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LOTHROP'S LIBRARY 



OF 



ENTERTAINING HISTORIES 

; EDITED BY 

ARTHUR OILMAN M. A. 




J.fiS.del.7\0 



^ 1 -J) ) 



INDIA 



BY 

FANNIE ROPER FEUDGE 



" The gorgeous East with richest hand 
Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold." 



WITH ONE HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS 



BOSTON: 
D. LOTHROP AND COMPANY 

FRANKLIN ST., CORNER OF HAWLEY. 



Uitu) 



COPYRIGHT BY 

D. LOTHROP & CO. 
1880. 







Press of Rockwell and Churchill, 
39 Arch St., Boston.- 



PREFACE. 



The country treated in the vohime now in the reader's hand 
claims attention from all who speak the English tongue, not 
only by reason of its great antiquity and the Oriental magnif- 
icence and grandeur that adorns its history, but because it is 
the home of those who used the language from which their 
own is a descendant. The history of England had long been 
intimately connected with that of India before the speech of 
the Anglo-Saxon was suspected of having any affiliation with 
that of the mysterious land of the Yedas, the home of 
Guadaraa. 

Now we recognize the truth that, as has been well said, Cen- 
tral Asia was the cradle of the " noble and ever-progressive 
Aryan race, the progenitor of Persian and Pelasgian, and Celt 
and Teuton, the discoverer of well-nigh everything which is 
great and beneficent in the arts of war and peace, the race from 
whose bosom came Charlemagne and Alfred, Dante and Shak- 
speare, Michael Angelo and Eaphael, Newton and Descartes — 
the parent in the modern world of the metaphysical subtlety of 
Germany, and the vivid intelligence of France, and the imperi- 
al energy of England; the parent in the ancient world of the 
lofty spiritualism of India 'of the glory that was Greece and 
the grandeur that was Rome.' " 

The more intimate our acquaintance with the history of this 
remarkable land, the more our astonishment at the marvellous 
past, as forcibly exhibited in an architecture imposing in its 



PREFACE. 

ruins from which the fretting tooth of time has not even yet 
talcen the delicate touches which in other days gave them a 
ravishing beauty. The literature and language of India have 
been brought to the knowledge of the Western world within 
our own century, and we know comparatively little of their 
scope and relations, but we are sufficiently well informed to be 
filled with amazement by that little. The latest of our great 
poems is based upon the remarkable story of the self-abne- 
gation of one of the religious heroes of India, and its exten- 
sive circulation, is an indication of the interest that is felt in 
the land and its history. 

The writer of the present volume was for a number of years 
resident in India and liad uncommon advantages for becom- 
ing acquainted with the people of all ranks, and in the different 
regions. Her experience enables her to present a view of the 
physical traits of the country, its natural wonders and works 
of art, its cities, towns, temples and palaces, its languages, 
literature, laws, and religious and social customs, and her study 
of authentic histories and books of travel have enabled her to 
give a lively epitome of the history of the past and to add to 
her own store of information with a freedom from error that 
is only possible for one long personally familiar with the 
country. 

The volume purposely avoids details and statistics, which, 
however valuable in themselves, are more appro j)riate in books 
intended rather for the specialist and the student than for the 
use of the general reader at the fireside and in the home. The 
many illustrations will make more real the descriptions of tbe 
author, and it is hoped that the volume will prove profitable as 
well as entertaining. 

A. G. 
Camhridge, June, 1880. 



CONTENTS. 



« ^»^ > 



CHAPTER I. 

GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 

Names — Geography of Hindustan — Situation — Ex- 
treme Length — Width — Area — Population — Names 
of Races — Great Mountain Ranges — Special Features 

— Matheran and Khandalla — "Dak-bungalows " — 
Railway over the Ghauts — Five Gi-eat Divisions of 
India as separated by Mountains and Rivers — Dis- 
tinctive Features of Each — The Desert — Coast Line 

— Diversified Appearance of Coast, Bays, Harbors, 17 
Rivers, and Islands. 

CHAPTER IL 

MOUNTAIN SYSTEMS. 

Highest Peaks of the Himalayas — Oriental Traditions — 
Mountains, Table-lands, Plahis, and Valleys — Botan- 
ical Garden at Mussoorri — Sikkim Hills — Dharjeling 
and its Sanitarium — Its History and Surroundings — 
Mountain Vehicles — Pur Pundjal — Simla and its 
Court — Kalka — Simoor Mountains — Mountain Scen- 
ery and People, Villages and Products, Climate and 

V 



vi CONTENTS. 

Minerals — Bhadrinatli — Its Temple and Tank — 
Chirra Punjee — Ajmere and Terragliur — Maghar Pa- 
liar — Salt Plains — Tintonni and the Tliakours — 
Black Mail — Kairwarra — Yindhyas and Ghauts — 
Climate and Scenery — Geological Features — Banga- 
lore and Mysore — Mountain Shrines and Temples — 
Neilgherry Hills — Smugglers and the Discoveiy — 
Mount Kartery, Kaytee Pass and Kaytee House — 
Influence of Mountains on Climate and Health. 65 

CHAPTER III. 

POLITICAL DIVISIONS, 

British India — Political Divisions — Area and Population 
— Presidency of Bengal — Beginning and Growth of 
Anglo-Indian Power — Battle of Plassey — Calcutta — . 
Its Origin and History — The Black Hole — Opium 
Monopoly — Products and Trade of Bengal — Chan- 
dernagore — Fort William — Government House — 
European and Native Quarters of Calcutta — Presi- 
dency of Madras — Its Components — The Canuitic — 
Varieties of Climate — Bangalore and Hyder Ali — 
Tlie Fort and its History — Seringapatan and Tippoo, 
the " Tiger " — Cochin — Arcot — Travancore and 
its Rajahs — Rulers of Vizianagram — History of the 
Circars — Cananore — Vellore and its Tragedy — The 
City of Madras — Its Origin and History — Fort and 
"Black Town" — Mount Road — Government House 
and its Belongings — Prince of Wales Liveries — 
European Dwellings — Street Sights and Equipages — 
Educational Institutions, etc. 115 

CHAPTER IV. 

PRESIDENCY OF BOMBAY. 

Presidency of Bomhay — Its Constituents — Climate, Soil, 
and Productions of several Sections — Regulation of 



CONTENTS. vii 

Land Tax — First Indian Kailvvay — Oilier Railways 

— The Telegraph — Schools — The Island of Bombay 

— Its Location and History — The "Fort" — Old and 
New City — What the Fort contains — Routine of Life 
in Indian Cities — Quarters for each Race — The Par- 
sees — Their Dwellings and Habits — Colaba — Races 
and Residences, Crafts and Wares — Arab Horse-market 

— Jain Hospital for Dumb Animals — Kindness to 
Brute Creatui-es — Depredations of Tigers — Cemeter- 
ies — Malabar Hill — Its Trees and Shrubs — Govern- 
ment House — Walkeshwar — Its Temple and Legend 

— Tower of Silence — Bycullah — Mazagon and its 
People — Flow^ers and Serpents — Palace Hospital of 
Sir J. Jejeebhoy, — Population — Commercial Crisis 
of 1863-65 — Surat — Broach, and its Silver Mosque 

— Antiquity of Callian — lis Ruins and Temple — 
Poonah — Situation and History — Famous Temple — 
Oriental Ideas of Death — Grovernment House of 
Poonah and What was Said of It. 162 

CHAPTER V. 

PROVINCES AND PEOPLE. 

Cbittagong Tenasserim Provinces — Aracan — Assam — 
The Bralmiaputra — Cultivation of Tea — Other Prod- 
ucts of Assam — Climate — Kishengurh — Its History 
and Capital — Cashmere — Its Yalley, Climate and 
Productions — Cashmere Shawls — History of Cash- 
mere — Condition — Afghanistan — Bundelcund — Its 
Location — History — Past and Recent — Hurdeo Singh 
and his Exploits — The Bourdilas — Noted Events in 
History of Bundelcund — Chief Towns —Duttiah — 
Its Fortifications — Temples — Palace of Bursing Deo 

— Its Size, Security and Design — The College of 
Duttiah — Sonnaghur and its Temples — Dholepore — 
Its History — Capital— Mosque — Maha Rajah and 



viii CONTENTS. 

Prince of Wales — Hindu Bridge — Nonrabad — Tomb 
of Mohammedan — Lady Author of Last Century — 
Bridge of Boats. 205 

CHAPTER YL 

GWALIOR AND SCINDIA. 

Ancient Gwalior — Its Fortress and History — Complica- 
tions — Mali a Rajah Scindia and the English — Scin- 
dia's Character and Martial Proclivities — Sir Dinkur 
Rao and the Administration — New Gwalior — Its 
Palaces and Monuments — Origin and History of the 
Scindias — The Peishwa and his Slipper-bearer — Ad- 
ventures of Mahaji Scindia — Daolut's Successes and 
Reverses — Territories of Scindia — Gwalioka Lashka, 
the new Capital — Its Origin— ^ Old and New Palaces 

— Temples — " Attar and Pan " — Native Government 

— Ceremonies -^Prisons. 237 

CHAPTER YIL 

CLIMATE AND SOIL. 

Climate — Monsoons — Seasons — Their Number and Char- 
acter — Hot Winds at Jeypore and Madras — Sand 
Showers — Precautions against Heat — Three Great 
Causes of Famine — Enforced Cultivation of Opium 

— Excessive Taxation — Lack of Irrigation — Lands 
taken up by English Government and Army — Evic- 
tions in Consequence of Heavy Taxes, and consequent 
Famine in some Collectorates — Vegetable Products 

— Grains — Fruits — Water-nut of Cashmere — Euro- 
pean Vegetables — Native Fruits Excellent and Abund- 
ant — Casheu-nut — Banian-tree and Fruit — Legend 

— Tamarind-tree and Foliage — Famous Kabira Bar 
on the Nerbudda — Ancient Pepul of Allahabad — 
The Moll wall and Its Numerous Flowers. 262 



CONTENTS. ix 

CHAPTER yrii. 

CASTE SYSTEM. 

Caste — Its Nature — Divisions — Grades — Require- 
ments — Rules in regard to Marriage and Vocation — 
Effects of tlie System— Bralimins — their offspring — 
Investiture of a Son — tlie Sacred Cord — Breaking 
Caste — Its Penalties — Involuntary Defilement — A 
Hundred Thousand Dollars for Restitution of Casfe 

— Tippoo's tyranny and its results — Advantages of 
Caste to the Traveller — Preponderance of Different 
Castes — Purvus — Kliayets — Buniahs — Parsees — Case 

in regard to Sick and Dying — Incidents. 282 

CHAPTER IX. 

CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 

Introduction of Christianity — St. Thomas of India — A 
Christian king — Ecclesiastical war — Portuguese ef- 
forts — A new Yeda — Romanism — Protestant mis- 
sions — Danish missionaries — The immortal Schwartz 

— English missions — American missions — Judson 
and others — The American Board — Dates of estab- 
lishment of various missions — Extent of missionary 
work — Great progress. 300 

CHAPTER X. 
EARLIEST HISTORY. 

Antiquity of the Hindus — Evidence of their Existence in 
tlie Old Patriarchal Days — Researches of Prinsep and 
otliers — Early Native Records and Poems — Decipher- 
ing of Ancient Inscriptions — Rama, king of Oude, and 
his Invasion of Ceylon — Who were -the " Monkeys " 
and "Demons" — Wars — Hastinapura a Dynasty — 
Subsequent kings of Pandu Dynasty — Kingdom of 



X CONTENTS. 

Magada — Birth and History of Gaud am a, fourth — 
Buddh — Ancient Language of Magada — Chandra- 
gumpta, the Soudra, and what he accomplished. 321 

CHAPTER XL 

DECLINE OF THE ARAB POWER. 

Reign of Dharmasoka, the First Emperor of India — His 
Wise and Virtuous Policy — Propagation of Buddh- 
ism—Extent of his Dominion — Internal Improve- 
ments — Decline of Magada — And Subjection to Can- 
ou j — Ancient Domain of Canouj — Early Llistory of 
Scindie — Guzerat and the Rajputs — Malwar and king 
Yicramaditya — The Deccan — Orissa — Successive 
Conquerors and Marauders of India — The Mahrattas 

— Alexander's Conquests — Wonderful Civilization of 
India Compared with that of other Countries, in the 
days before the Moslem Conquests — Arab Invasion 

— Success of Casim — Sacking of Moulton — Capture 
of Dewal — Rout of Rajputs — A Woman's Bravery — 
Casim's Death — Decline of Arab Power in India. 336 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE SUPREMACY OF MAHMOUD. 

The death of Haroun-al-Raschid and its Results — The 
Samanis and their Protege — Promotion of Alptegin, 
and Subsequent Career — His Successor —Character 
of Sibektegin — Incident indicative of Humanity — 
Furious encounters with Rajahs of Lahore. Delhi and 
others — Sibektegin always victorious — Extension of 
Afghan Dominion — Sultan's Death — Accession of his 
Son — Mahmoud's Victories — Triumphal Feast — 
Annexation of Punjaub and Lahore — Foundation of 
Ghaznivide Dynasty — Conquest of Persia — Death — 
Character — Incidents, (-{49 



CONTENTS. xi 

CHAPTER XIII. 

KHILIJI, THE SANGUINARY. 

Short and troublous reigns of Mahmoud's Sons and 
Grandsons — Revolt of Lahore — Accession of Farokh- 
sad — Incursions of Seljuks — Wise and prosperous 
reign of Ibrahim — Expedition to the Sutlej — Capture 
of Cities — Prosperous Reign of Massand II. — Violent 
death of his Son — Long Reign of Behram and its con- 
trasting Acts — Flight and Death — Accession of his 
Sons and Character of their respective Reigns — Divi- 
sion of Empire — Ghorian Dynasty — Glorious reign of 
Gheias-u-din— Sahib, his General and Successor — 
Large Accessions of Territory — Mahmoud Ghori and 
his Reign — India an IndeiDendejit Kingdom — " Tlie 
Slave Kings" — Kutb-u-din — His Origin and History 
— Altamsh and His Successors — House of Khiliji, 
and its Extinction. ..( ; 

CHAPTER XIY. 

THE TOGHLAK DYNASTY. 

Gheias-u-din — Military Governor of Punjaub — Tlie first 
King of the Toghlak Dynasty — Events of his Reign, 
and violent Death A. D. 1325 — Accession of his Son, 
Mohammed — Early Successors — Subsequent Tyranny 

— Insurrections and Loss of Territory • — Sudden Deatli 
A. D. 1351 — Accession of Firuz — His Character and 
Long Reign — Later Events in the Life of Firuz — 
Short Reigns of his Successors — Accession of Mah- 
moud— Early Events of his Reign —Revolt of States 

— Invasion of Tamerlane — Enormities Committed by 
Tartars — Devastation of Punjaub — Reduction of 
Delhi — Tamerlane, Emperor of India— Atrocities at 
Delhi — Departure of the Conqueror — His Policy and 
Acts — Restoration of Mahmoud — Last of the Tosli- 



xii, CONTENTS. 

laks — KhizirKhan and His Successors — Three Kings 
of tlie Lodi Dyi)asty — The Last of the Afghan Kings 
— Invasion Invited — Conquest of the Capital hy the 
Tartan Baber. 373 

CHAPTER XY. 

EUROPEAN TRADE. 

Trade of the Ancients with India — Benefits of Alexan- 
der's Expedition — Former Routes and Nations en- 
gaged in Indian trade — Romans and Saracens as Pio- 
neers — Discoverers of the fifteenth century — First 
Portuguese Expedition — Opposition of Moors — Piompt 
Action of De Cabul — Results in Portuguese favor — 
Second Portuguese Expedition — Yasco de Gama and 
Albuquerque — Papal "Bull," Its Reception — Concilia- 
tory Policy and Subsequent Death of Albuquerque — 
Contrasting Administrations of De Souza and De 
Castro, and their Results — Death of De Castro — Fran- 
cis Xavier — His Character and Influence — The Inqui- 
sition — Its Doings and Results — Advent of Dutch 
Power in India — Of the English — Formation of East 
India Company, A. d. 1600. 386 

CHAPTER XYI. 

INDIAN RACES. 

Races of India — Rajputs a Paramount Power — Their 
Origin and History — Oudeypore and its People — The 
Late and Present Maharanas — Their Wonderful Ped- 
igree, — How a Maiden of the Souriavanses may be 
Won — Dress of the Maharana — His Jewels — State 
and Revenue — Honors and Perquisites — Past and 
Present Travel in Central India — Testimony of Bishop 
Heber in 1820 — Appearance and Dress of Rajputs — 
Ladies of Rajputana — Bards — Pertal Singh and the 
Moguls, in 1565 — Sixteen Omras — Heraldry among 



CONTENTS. xiii 

Rajputs — Maharajah Jeypore — Origin- and History — 
Dholac Rae and the Mynas — How the Kaschvvas 
lost Caste — History of tlie Mynas — Bheels — Their 
Origin and History — Appearance and Attire — Reli- 
gious Belief — Customs — A Legend — Tlie Blieels 400 
and Mutiny of 1858. 

CHAPTER XVII. 
THE MOGUL EMPIRE— FROM BABER TO AKBAR. 

Accession of Baber, the first Tartaii^Emperor— lusuhordiiia- 
tioii of Rajahs — Baber's Early Experiences and History 
— Victory at Paiiiput, and Subsequent Successes — 
Internal Improvements — Short Reign — His Death, 
Character and Successor — Prosperous Condition of 
the country on the Accession of Humayiui — His Noble 
traits — Treacliery of his Family and Nobles^ — Escape 
to Persia — Long Exile and Return to Delhi — His Sub- 
sequent Death — Akbar, the " boy-king "—Long and 
Prosperous Reign — The Minister Behram Khan — Sub- 
jection of Rebellious Provinces — Chittore — Its History 
Heroism — "Sacrifice of Johar" thrice repeated — "The 
Holy City" deserted — Gndeypore founded hy the 
Rajah of Chittore — Cashmere reduced. 431 

CHAPTER XVIIL 

THE MOGUL EMPIRE — FROM AKBAR TO SHAH 

JEHAN. 

Expedition into the Deccan — Ahraednegar — Its History 
and Fortress — Rebellion of Akbar' s Son — Submission 
and Restoration to favor — Akbar' s Death — His Acts 
Characler, Abilities — Accession of Jehanghir — Revolt 
of his son Khosru — Its Results — Lahore, the Old and 
the New — Palace of Sehanghir — Nour Mahal — 
Prince Koroun's attempt on Agra — His Junction 
with Mohabet — Death of Jehanghir — Immense 



xiv ' CONTENTS. 

Wealth — Proclamation of Shall Jehan — Agra — Its 
History and Wonderful Monuments — The Taj — 
Palace and Throne of Akbar — A Legend — Gates of 
Soinnath — Mausoleum of the Princess Jehanara — 
Mumtaj Mahal — Buildmg of the Taj — Its History 

— What People say of it — The Elmaddowlah — 
Promise of Agra. 451 

CHAPTER XIX. 

THE MOGUL EMPIRE. — AURUNGZEBE. 

Splendor of Shah Jehan's Reign — Immense WeaUh and 
Lavish Expenditures — Peacock Throne — Wise Gov- 
ernment — Military Exploits of his Reign — Troubles 
with Mahrattas — Quarrels about the Succession — 
Aurungzebe gains the day — Disposal of his opponents 

— Shah Jehan deposed — Seven years in confinement 
and Subsequent Death in 1665 — Ultimate Fate of the 
rivals of Aurungzebe — Names of Emperor, Character 
and abilities — Exploits in the Deccan — Towns of 
Aurungabad and Hyderbad — Fortress of Daoulatabad 

— Prominent Events in History of Ahmedabad — 
Troubles with the- Mahrattas — Failure of Afghan 
Campaign — Disaffection of His Subjects — Death of 

the Emperor, 1707. 473 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE MAHRATTAS. 

The Mahratta Power — Its Rise, History, and Wide-spread 
Influence — Sevaji and his Successors — Intervening 
History of European Nations in India— Growth of 
English Indian Power — Its Obstacles and Successes 
through several Reigns — Union of Old and New East 
India Companies — Increased Privileges granted by 
New Charter — Inefficient Officers and Threatened 
Dangers to the Colonies — Renewed Depredations of 



CONTENTS. XV 

the Malirattas — Their Ultimate Fate — Sons and Suc- 
cessors of Aurungzebe — Several brief Reigns usher- 
ing in the Accession of Mohammed Shah in 1719. 491 

CHAPTER XXI. 

THE MOGUL DYNASTY — FROM MOHAMMED SHAH 
TO THE END OF THE DYNASTY. 

Inauspicious beginning of Mohammed Shah's Reign — 
Troubles with his Yizier — Hosen Ali — Fate of the 
Brothers — Asof Jah and his Acts — Invasion of India 
by Nadir Shah — Plunder and Massacre at Delhi — 
Spoils — Rise of Rohillas — Invasion of India by 
Afghans — Death of Emperor — Accession of his Son, 
Ahmed Shah — Fresh Invasions of Rohillas and 
Afghans — Dissensions — Deposition of Emperor — 
Violence to his Person — Alam-ghir II. on the Throne 

— Treachery of Ghazni-u-din — Return of the Afghans 

— Massacre and Plunder — Death of the Emperor — 
Fate of Shah Alum — His Son — End of Tartar Dy- 
nasty — Growth of English Power — Jealousy of Dutch 
and French— Suraj-al-Daoulah and the "Black Hole," 

— Fleet from Batavia — Landing of Troops — Decline 

of French and Dutch Power in India. 507 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE ENGLISH POWER — LORDS CLIYE AND 
HASTINGS. 

Mr. Yansittart's Administration — Deposition of Mir Jaf- 
fier and Appointment of Cassim Ali Khan — Disaffec- 
tion toward Mr. Yansittart — Cassim's Treachery — 
Yarious Military Exploits — Fall of Mongheer and 
Patna — Mutinous Indications among Native Troops 
Restoration and Death of Mir Jaffier — Complaints 
and Request of Stock-holders of the East India Com- 
pany — Appointment of Lord Clive — His Absolute 



xvi CONTENTS, 

Authority — Correction of Abuses — " Batta," and 
what came of it— Capture of Po] diclierry and Nizam— 
Ali's Opposition — Hyder Ali — Subahdar of Oudh 
and the Rohillas — New Constitution for Indian Prov- 
inces — Impeachment of Warren Hastings — Rajah of 
Nuncomar and his Sad Fate — Caprice of the Governor 
— Reverses and Successes — Duel between Hastings and 
Francis — Hyder — The Peishwa and the English — 
French Settlement Captured — Hyder Ali defeated. 523 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE ENGLISH POWER — TIPPOO SAHIB AND HIS 

TIMES. 

Sir Eyre Coote as Governor of Madras — Wars of Hyder 
Ali and Tippoo — Taking of Dutch Settlements — Gen. 
Matthews and his Officers — Treaty, March, 1784 — 
Supreme Court of Calcutta — Power Tested therein — 
Provincial Councils — Civil Service — Consolidation of 
British Power — Complicity of Gov. Hastings with 
Nabob of Oudh — General Prosperity of Colonies — 
Passage of Acts by Home Government — Appointment 
of Lord Cornwallis — Treachery of Tippoo — Civil and 
Military Complications — Rajah of Benares — Nabob 
of Oudh — Governor's Share of Plunder — Pitt's '' India 
Bill" — Renewal of Hostilities — Varying Results of 
several Campaigns — Treaty of 1792 — Charter of East 
India Company renewed — Affairs in Oudh — Tippoo 
and the French — Taking of Seringapatam — Death of 
Tippoo — His Family — Mysore dismembered — Charac- 
ter and Peculiarities of Tippoo — Invasion of Afghan 
King — Complications among Mahratta Princes, and 
Continuation of Hostilities — Battle of Assaye, of Las- 
warre, and others — Lord Wellesley's Policy — Napo- 
leon's Influence and Aims in regard to India — Cap- 
ture of French Islands — Java — The Ghoorkas — Sue- 



CONTENTS. xvii. 

Page 
cesses— Close of Maliratta War — Last of tlie Peisli- 

was — Eesigiiation of Gov. Hastings. 540 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE ENGLISH POWER — BURMESE AND PUNJAUB 
WARS AND THE CONQUEST OF SCINDE. 

Advent of Earl of Amherst as Governor-General — First 
Burmese War — Its Causes and Results — Second Bur- 
mese War — Causes — Duration and Results — Two 
Noted Events of Mr. Adams' Administration — Adjust- 
ment of Dutch and English Affairs — Singapore — 
Queen of the Indian Seas — Peaceful Administration 
of Lord William Bentinck — Important Reforms — Edu- 
cation and Religions Liberty — Initiatory Steps toward 
Opening Communication between India and the Cas- 
pian Sea, and Ultimate "Overland" Steam-route from 
England to India — Important Changes in Charter — 
Resignation of Governor — His Successor- — Lord Auck- 
land's Administration a Failure — The Afghan Cam- 
paign and its Terrible Disasters — Recall of Lord Auck- 
land — Administration of Lord Ellenborough — Annex- 
ation of the Punjaub — Changes in Charter — Lord 
Dalliousie's Retirement — Prosperity. 5*72 

CHAPTER XXV. 

THE SEAPOY REBELLION — INDIA OF THE PRESENT. 

The Seapoy Service — Gi-eat Rebellion — Visit of Prince of 

Wales — The Afghan War — India of the Present. 594 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



-«♦»- 



Map. Page 

The Maharao Eajah of Ulwur . . . • 23 

Sontal Yillage, Rajmahal .... 29 

The Dakghari. Post Chaise . . . , . 37 

Mountaineers in action ..... 43 

Railway travelling in India ..... 51 

An ladigo Factory, Allahabad . . . . 57 

Peasants of the Doab . . . . .61 

Hindus of Western Deccan .... 67 

Inhabitants of the Island of Salsette, near Bombay . 73 

A child committed to the river Junna by its mother . 79 

Crossing an Indian River . , . . 87 
Mohammedan School, Allahabad . . ,91 

Entrance of Caves, Elephanta .... 95 

Interior of Great Cave, Elephanta ... 99 

The Lion's Cave on the Island of Elephanta . . 102 

Caves of Kenhari ...... 105 

Mosque on the Hooghly, near Calcutta . . . 109 

Travelling Wagons ..... 113 

The Mail-cart ...... 121 

The Chopaya, an Indian Carriage . . . 131 

Simla, Western Himalayas .... 135 

The Palace of the Seths, Ajmere , . . 147 

xviii. 



List of Illustrations. xix. 

Page 

Cocoanut Trees . . . . . 155 

Boating on the Ganges . . . . . 163 

A European House, Calcutta . . . . 167 

Esplanade, Calcutta . . . . . 169 

Palaquin ....... 173 

Bhistis or Water Carrier . . . . 177 

Hindoo Jewellers . . . . . . 181 

A Court of Justice in a Jungle . . . . 185 

Jugglers . . . . . . . 189 

Native of Madras . . . . . . 199 

Young Hindoo Woman .... * 201 

Serpent Charmers ...... 203 

Carriage of Hindoo Lady .... 211 

Hindoo Women of Bombay in Ceremonial Dress . 221 

The Festival of the Serpents, Bombay . . . 225 

The Cotton Market: Merchants at Bombay . . 227 

Persians in Bombay ..... 231 

A Parsee Merchant at Bombay .... 239 

A Hindoo Temple in the Black Town, Bombay . 245 

Religious Meeting of Jains, Bombay . . . 251 

Parsee Lady and Her Daughter .... 257 

Travellers received on the Frontier of the State of 

Punnah . . . . .263 

Dancing Girls at Bombay .... 269 

Hill Fortress of Pawangurh .... 277 

Thugs, in the Prison of Aurungabad . . . 283 
Meeting of Travellers with the Maharajah of Chutter- 

pore . . . . . .289 

Facade of the Palace of Birsing-Deo . . . 295 

Palace of Birsing-Deo and the Lake, Duttiah . . 303 



XX. 



List of Illustrations, 



The Holy Hill of Sounaghur, seen from tlie village 

Tlie Moliorum (New Year Festival) at Bliopal 

Gatliacks, (Male Dancers) at Bliopal 

A Rhinoceros Fight . . . . 

Colossi of Curwhai, Gwalior 

Side Yiew of the Pal Palace at Gwalior 

Mausoleum of the Scindias, at Lashkar 

The Gopal Bhowan in the Palace of Digh 

Pavilion of Dewaui Khas (Great Audience Hall) at 

Digh. 
The Imperial Durbar — Dress Reception 
Temple of Juggernath 
Gentlemen of Behar 
Great Chaitya or Tope of Sanehi 
Full Dress Reception of the Maharana of Oudeypore 
Brahmins of Bengal . 

Car of Juggernath . , 

Feast of Ganesa, Benares 
Chandni Chowk— The Shopping Street, Delhi 
Ruins near Delhi . . . 

Rajpoots, Warrior Caste . 
The Bazaar of Klioja Syud, Ajmere 
The Temple of Mahadeva, Kajraha 
Samhhoo Sing, the Maharana of Meywai 
Durbar of the Maharah of Rewah, at Govindgurh 
The Start for the Hunt in India , 
Temples of tlie King, at Ulwur . . . 

The Royal Standard Bearer, in the Procession of the 
Guicowar, at Baroda 

The Yalley of Ambir . . . . 



Page 
307 
311 
317 
323 
327 
331 
337 
343 

351 
353 
357 
363 
375 
383 
391 
401 
407 
415 
421 
433 
437 
453 
455 
465 
475 
481 

493 
503 



List of Illustrations, xxi. 

Page 

Principal Gate of tlie Palace of the Emperors, Delhi . 513 

Zemindars and Jat Peasants .... 525 

The Golden Kiosk, in the Yalley of Ambir . . 533 

The Tower of Koutub, Plain of Delhi . . .541 

The Princess Shah-Jehan .... 545 

The Taj Mausoleum ..... 551 

Gardens of the Taj ..... 559 

Mausoleum of Sheik Shisti, at Futtehpore-Sikri . 563 

Soldiers of the Nizam of Hyderabad . . . 575 

Eoyal Necropolis, Golconda .... 579 

Monument in the Royal Necropolis at Golconda . 585 

Ruins of the Harem of the Emperor Ahmed, Sirkhej . 591 

The King's Elephant, in the Great Procession at Baroda 595 

Mosque of Aurungzebe, Benares . . . 599 

Religious Beggar, Benares .... 607 

General Yievv of Bhurtepore .... 613 

The Broad Stair-case of Funerals on the Ganges, (Cawn- 

pore) ..... 619 

Imambara, Lucknow ..... 623 

An Elephant Fight . . . . . 629 

Explanation of Indian Terms . , ^ 632~~ 

General Index . . . . . . 637 



INDIA 



CHAPTER I. 

GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. 

INDIA, Hindustan, and British India, are names 
often indiscriminately applied as belonging 
to the same region. Properly, the first and 
second include the third; India and Hindustan 
being applied to the entire Peninsula, comprising 
within its bounds, British India^ or all that portion 
under British control, and in addition, many 
native Principalities, some of which are entirely 
independent, and others partially tributar}'- to the 
British Provincial Government. 

India lies between Thibet and Little Thibet o» 



18 Qeogra'phieal Divisions. 

the north, the Anglo-Burmese Provmces of Assam 
and Aracan and the Bay of Bengal on the east, 
the Indian Ocean on the south, and the sea of 
Arabia, Beeloochistan and Affghanistan on the 
west. It extends over the immense region lying 
between Cape Comorin in 8° of north latitude and 
the Himalayan mountains in 35° of north latitude, 
and from the Delta of the Brahmaputra on the 
east, to that of the Indus on the west. 

Its extreme length is about eighteen hundred 
miles, and its greatest breadth, along the parallel 
of 25°, is a little more than fifteen hundred miles ; 
comprising a total area of not less than fifteen 
hundred thousand square miles. 

The population of India is reckoned at one hun- 
dred and forty-one millions, of whom, about 
one million are Portuguese and their descendants ; 
one hundred thousand are Anglo-Saxons ; and the 
remainder are Monguls, Tartars, Moors, Arabs, 
Parsees, Burmese, Aracanese, Assamese, Peguans, 
Chinese, Jews and Gypsies; besides the various 
Indian races, viz. : Hindus, Bengalees, Rajputs, 
Mahrattas, Seikhs, Ameers, Bheels, Afghans, Gen- 
toos, Goorkas, Klings, Bhootians, Lopchas, Todars, 
Gounds, Khounds, Badagas, and Erulars. 



Mountain Ranges. 19 

This great Peninsula is intersected by ranges of 
lofty mountains, among which are the Himalayas 
in the northern section ; the Vindhyas, Dounghers, 
Aravalis, Kairmoor, and Rajmahal, in the central ; 
and the several ranges of Ghauts in the southern 
portion ; thus diversifying the whole country with 
alternating mountains and valleys, extensive table- 
lands, deltas, and fertile plains, that include within 
their several bounds a very great diversity of 
climate, soil and productions. 

The great Himalayas, that form the northern 
boundary of India, begin in Turkey, under the 
name of the Taurus Mountains, continue their 
course as the Elborze Mountains of Persia, and 
the Hindoo Koorsh of Turkistan ; then, as the 
Himalayas, after separating Thibet from India, 
they pass entirely across Southern China, in about 
25° north latitude, where they are known as the 
Nan-ling range : thus traversing the entire conti- 
nent of Asia, from the Black Sea to the borders of 
the Pacific Ocean, a distance of more than six 
thousand miles in a direct line, or about seven 
thousand five hundred in their varying course. 

Of the various mountain-ranges of India, the 
Himalayas are the highest ; the Yindhyas have the 



20 Greographical Divisions. 

most marked results as a dividing range, between 
different sections ; the Aravalis are richest in min- 
erals, and have broader valleys more generally 
furrov^ed by water-courses ; the DouDghers have 
some of the wildest scenery, with narrow gorges 
overhung with nearly black rocks, abrupt preci- 
pices, huge blocks of white quartz gleaming in 
the sunlight, and here and there, hidden in the 
midst of these mountain heights, an oasis of won- 
drous beauty ; the Kairmoors, that cross Bogel- 
cund between the Ganges and Nerbudda rivers, 
divide the land into two slopes, and unite two 
mountain ranges, i. e.^ the Vindhyas and the group 
of Rajmahal ; while the Ghauts have a formation 
altogether peculiar to themselves, and are, in many 
respects, different from any other chain in Asia. 
Being the edges of the great table-land of the 
Deccan, each range of the Ghauts consists of only 
one rugged side which faces the water, forming 
all along the sea an unbroken wall. There are 
here and there defiles, with steps descending to 
the sea-shore ; many of the hills are covered with 
dense jungle ; others have been partially cleared, 
and are adorned with lovely, picturesque little 
villas, and bungalows half hidden in shrubs and 



" D ak- Bung alow s,^^ 21 

flowers; while several prominent peaks are points 
of great interest to the tourist. On one of the 
Western Ghauts stands a Hindu temple, its slender 
spire girt about with vapory clouds ; another, 
Mount Bao Mallim, has its highest peak surmounted 
by an ancient fortress that is entered from the out- 
side by a flight of some three hundred steps cut out 
of the solid rock; and at the foot of a third, is prettily 
laid out the little village of Kampouli, which leads 
to the defile of the Bhore Ghaut, whence an Eng- 
lish railway goes direct to the celebrated Sanita- 
rium of Matheran. 

Upon the mountain, half a mile from the Sani- 
tarium, is the "Dak-bungalow" of Khandalla. 
.These " Daks " are quite an institution in British 
India, a god-send to the foreiga tourist he soon 
learns to appreciate, and an absolute necessity in 
a country like this wholly destitute of hotels at all 
suited to the accommodation of Europeans. The 
"Daks" diXQ bungalows (th.'8it is, one-story dwelling 
houses shaded by long, covered verandas) con- 
structed by the British Government, at regular 
intervals, on the chief military roads throughout 
the Peninsula ; and in these wayside dwellings any 
traveller has a right to twenty-four hours' lodging, 



22 G-eographical Divisions. 

with the use of furniture and servants, for the 
small sum of one Rupee (forty-five cents). He 
may continue for a longer period at the same rate, 
provided his room is not needed for a new-comer ; 
but after having occupied it for a day and night, 
he must, perforce, yield his place to the first trav- 
eller who arrives, if there is no other vacant room. 

Provisions, including fresh fruits and excellent 
tea or coffee, may usually be obtained at moderate 
rates through the "Dak" servants; and on a 
long journe}^, in that hot and unhealthy climate, 
it is often a very great benefit to the weary trav- 
eller to stop for a day and night where he may 
obtain a good bed and several comfortable meals 
before proceeding on his way. 

The bungalow of the Khandalla is built on the 
extreme edge of the table-land overlooking a deep 
ravine, while on one side rises a mountain, and on 
the other a magnificent cascade falls three hundred 
feet into the valley below. 

Excellent roads running all around the table- 
land of Matheran extend along by the very edge 
of the precipice, exhibiting a panorama rarely 
beautiful and varied. It is only within a few 
years past — little more than a single decade — 




JHE MAHARAO RAJ AH OK ULWUR. 



The Peninsular Railivay. 25 

that Matheran has been known to Europeans ; 
and its reputation is already wide-spread, as having 
saved many valuable lives afflicted with diseases 
hitherto regarded as incurable in a tropical climate. 
This is, indeed, one of the peculiarities of the 
Ghauts table-lands, the w*onderful efficacy of their 
pure air and invigorating climate in the cure of 
nearly all the ailments indigenous to the Indian 

low-lands. 

The works executed on the great " Indian Pe- 
ninsular Railway," to make the passage across the 
Ghauts Mountains, are among the most famous of 
our day. The rugged, almost impassable moun- 
tains, beset with thick jungles and deep ravines, 
rendered every step of the vast enterprise full of 
difficulty and danger, that only Anglo-Saxon 
energy and perseverance could have success- 
fully encountered. The total height surmounted 
is eighteen hundred and thirty feet, on a line 
of fifteen miles, with a mean inclination of one 
in forty-eight. Eight viaducts Avere construct- 
ed, of from thirty to fifty arches, and from fifty to 
one hundred and forty feet high. Twenty-two 
tunnels were cut, of a total length of nearly two 
miles, and embankments were made, containing 



26' Creographical Divisions. 

upwards of six millions of cubic feet. The work 
w^as completed in seven years, at a cost of ^800,- 
000, or about four millions of dollars. The entire 
route of the road passes through regions of won- 
drous beauty and grandeur ; alternately penetrating 
gorges, traversing mountains, and skirting fright- 
ful ravines dark and deep enough to turn the brain 
giddy with a single glance into their fathomless 
depths. This road at first only united Bombay 
with the Deccan, but was afterwards lengthened 
to Calcutta ; and British India is rapidly becoming 
one vast system of railways, extending over all the 
principal military routes, and connecting the larger 
cities and chief places of resort. One of the latest 
is "The Dhoud and Vingorla State Eailway," 
throuQ^h the rich Southern Marathi countrv, via 
Belgaum, Kolapoor, and Satara. 

Hindustan is divided into five great sections, 
their lines marked by mountain ranges and rivers. 

These divisions are as follows : First, the Delta 
of the Indus, consisting of the north and north- 
west portions of India. Second, the Delta of the 
Ganges, or Eastern Hindustan. Third, Central 
India, or all the region north of the Vindhya Moun- 
tains between the Deltas of the Indus and Ganges. 



Kyher Pass. 27 

Fourth, the Deccan, embracing the section south of 
the Yindhyas, to the river Kishna. Fifth, Southern 
India, or the region south of the Kishna to Cape 
Comorin. 

The first division lies mainly to the east of the 
river Indus, beginning in the vicinity of Attock, 
and extending southward and westward to the 
region where the Indus discharges its waters into 
the Arabian sea. This section comprehends a vast 
territory, including the Punjaub, Scinde, and sev- 
eral smaller states, with the addition, by the recent 
treaty, of several portions of Afghan territory, 
among them the famous Kyber Pass, now a British 
outpost, with the Khurum and Khost valleys as 
British granaries. The Punjaub, or " country of 
the five rivers," forms the southern portion of the 
plain of the Indus, and extends from the base of 
the Himalayas to the confluence of the Chenaub 
with the Indus. " The five rivers " giving name to 
this region, are the Sutlej, Beas, Ravee, Chenaub, 
and Jhalum, known to the ancients under the names 
of Zaradus, Hyphasis, Hydrastes Acesines, and Hy- 
daspes. They all have their source in the Hima- 
layas, all observe a nearly direct course to the 
southwest for some six hundred miles, and pour 



28 G-eog7'aphical .Divisions. 

their united waters through the Chenab into the 
Indus, at the northern point of the desert of 
Scinde. 

The Punjaub is inhabited mainly by Seikhs, a 
bold, warlike race, who bravely withstood the 
inroads of British power, and proved themselves 
very formidable foes in some of the most hotly- 
contested struggles of modern times. But it was 
of no avail : the Punjaub and Scindia, king- 
doms no longer, are now merely appendages of 
Great Britain, with an English " Resident " gov- 
erning at Lahore. The Punjaub is by far the most 
fertile -and populous portion of the Delta of the 
Indus, numbering between three and four millions 
of inhabitants. Umritsur, with a population of 
one hundred thousand, is the sacred city of the 
Seikhs; Lahore, their ancient capital, and now 
the British seat of government, has eighty -five 
thousand inhabitants; and Moulton, prettil}- sit- 
uated on the Chenab, has sixtj^-five thousand. 

South of the Punjaub, is Scinde, formerly a 
powerful state, governed by 'Ameers. Its present 
population is little more than a million : and of its 
chief cities, Hydrabad, Patta, Sikkur, Shikarpore, 
Kurrachee, not one has over twenty-five thousand 



The Thor. 31 

inhabitants. Except in the immediate vicinity of 
the river, the soil is sandy, and of little valne for 
agricultural purposes. The Thor or Desert is ruled 
by Rajput Princes, petty chiefs, who are in al- 
liance with the British Government, and carry on 
quite a thriving trade, under foreign surveil- 
lance — a system far more tantalizing to the British 
official, than effectual in controlling the irreguli^ri- 
ties of so unscrupulous a fraternity as these Rajput 
rulers of the Thor. 

The Second Division, the Plain of the Ganges, 
includes the districts of Behar, Oudh, Pirhut, 
Rohilcunde, Allahabad, and last, and most impor- 
tant of all, Bengal, one of the three great Presi- 
dencies of India. This Second Division, entirely 
under British control, has a population of nearly 
seventy-millions, and is by far the most fertile and 
populous portion of British India. Behar is noted 
as the birth-place of Buddhism ; and Patna, its cap- 
ital, is accepted now as the Palibothra of the 
ancients, the capital of the Mauryas Emperors 
who received the Greek embassadors of the suc- 
cessors of Alexander. But the present insignifi- 
cant town, with its dirty bazaars and tumble- 



32 G-eograpliical Divisions. 

down liouses does violence to everything like 
classic memories. 

The KuiTuckpore Hills, an offshoot of the Vin- 
dhyas, form the boundary between Behar and the 
Terai jungle. These Hills abound in mineral 
springs, and are inhabited by a race of Kolee 
savages. 

Oudh or AoMh, familiar to every reader, from 
the names of Cawnpore and Lucknow, as associa- 
ted with the terrible massacre of 1857, was a very 
ancient kingdom, governed by Mahratta Princes 
until it fell into the hands of the English. Con- 
sisting of rich agricultural lands, watered by the 
Ganges, and possessing several large and populous 
cities, with considerable commercial importance, 
it has proved to the English a rich and vahiable 
possession. The deposed king enjoj^s a large pen- 
sion of $500,000 from the British Government, and 
lives as a State prisoner in a magnificent palace 
beautifully located at Garden Reach, near Cal- 
cutta. 

Allahabad is one of the richest provinces of 
India. Watered by the Ganges and Jumna, as 
well as by canals, it produces abundant crops of 
maize, cotton, sugar, indigo and flax. Its popula- 



Bengal. 33 

tion is iiearl}^ four millions, with an area of eleven 
thousand eight hundred and twenty-six square miles. 
Bengal proper is the low, fertile, and densely- 
populated region Ij'ing on the lower Ganges, in 
the section round about Calcutta. The Ganges, 
the most lawless of rivers, runs riot over nearly 
every portion of Bengal, first inundating one sec- 
tion, destroying everything in its course, and then 
suddenly withdrawing, and forming for itself new 
paths to the ocean. These flat, low, swampy lands 
are good for nothing in the world but the cultiva- 
tion of rice, and as the birth-place of a pestilential 
miasma, created by the constant evaporation of 
stagnant water that escapes in the form of a blu- 
ish vapor, filling the air with poisonous exhala- 
tions. The laborer needs only to turn the soil 
with his pick or shovel to find pools beneath ; and, 
in truth, this Avhole region is neither land nor wa- 
ter, but mud, mud, mud ! which, in other than a 
tropical clime, would be only unapproachable 
swamp. Here cholera finds its mitural home, 
among the densely-populated villages lying half- 
buried in the rice-fields, stifled under creeping- 
plants, and shut out by the rank growth from the 
life-giving rays of sunlight, while everything is 



34 G-eographical Divisions. 

reeking with perpetual moisture mingled with the 
noxious fumes of vegetable decay. Asiatic chol- 
era, born here, travels westward with the crowds 
of Hindu devotees who go annually to the great 
sanctuaries of the north and west; and thence 
it is readily conveyed to Mecca and Constantino- 
ple by Moslem pilgrims and traders, to be scat- 
tered far and wide over both continents. This 
terrible disease first appeared in the district of 
Nuddah, in 1817, and since that period has sel- 
dom disappeared from India. 

Rice planters often disinter, from their moist 
fields several leagues from the river, the frame-work 
of boats, and even portions of larger vessels that 
had been sunk in the deep waters that long ago, 
in some unknown past, covered the rice-fields of 
the present day. 

ft. 

Beyond these swamp-lands, the east of this prov- 
ince is made up of monotonous plains crowned 
with emerald verdure, and thickly dotted with vil- 
lages swarming with inhabitants. 

Between the northern extremity of the Plain of 
tlie Ganges and the Plain of the Indus is a flat, 
sterile region, known as the Doab. It does not be- 
long properly to either of the great Divisions of 



Central India. 35 

India, but is mentioned here, from its proximity to 
those named above. It is ruled by several Seikh 
Rajahs, who are in alliance with the British ; but 
is of little importance either politically or other- 
wise. 

Central India, the third great Division of Hindus- 
tan, embraces all that section of the peninsula 
north of the Yindhya, between the Deltas of the 
Indus and Ganges. Triangular in form, its base is 
the mountains, and its apex the region south of 
Delhi. It is composed mainly of elevated table- 
lands, interspersed with mountain ranges, and 
lovely fertile plains abounding in valuable pro- 
ducts. Nearlj^ the whole of this Division is occu- 
pied by native Principalities, many of which are 
not only wholly independent, their princes main- 
taining the state of sovereigns, but they are pos- 
sessed of immense wealth, and have vast resources 
for peace and war. 

The Fourth and Fifth Divisions of India are the 
Deccan and Southern India, divided only by the 
river Kishna, and the two extending from the 
south side of the Vindhyas to Cape Comorin. The 
distinguishing feature of these regions is the lofty 
mountain ranges that girt them about on every 



36 Geographical Divisions. 

side, and are known respectively, as the Northern, 
Southern, Eastern and Western Ghauts. The 
Eastern and Western ranges skirt the sea at dis- 
tances varying from ten to about eighty miles, 
those on the western coast approaching nearest to 
the sea-board. At the southern extremity of this 
range, stretching out to the eastward, are the 
famous Neilgherry mountains, so highly esteemed 
for their fertile soil and salubrious atmosphere. At 
the northern extremity of the same range, immedi- 
ately opposite Bombay, are the Mahabalipura moun- 
tains rising something more than five thousand feet 
above the sea-level. The British territory in the 
Deccan, divided between the Presidencies of Bom- 
bay and Madras, does not exceed forty thousand 
square miles. A portion of the table-lands is very 
fertile and well cultivated ; but the mountains 
themselves are generally sterile, though the valleys 
between have extensive forests of lofty timber, 
reaching down to the plains, often to the water's 
edo-e. The belt or lowlands around the peninsula, 
between the Ghauts and the seashore, is British 
territory exclusively. It varies widely, not only 
in breadth, but in fertility ; the first few miles 
nearest the sea being always flat and sandy. Where 



Southern India, 39 

the width of the slip does not exceed eight or ten 
miles, there will be only this barren tract up to the 
base of the mountains; but, where the mountains 
are more remote from the sea, there is often inter- 
vening between the sandy shore-land and the low- 
est ledge of the mountains, ten, twenty, perhaps 
fifty or more miles of extremely rich and produc- 
tive soil ; the land gradually rising as it nears the 
mountains, until it is merged in the jungle of teak 
and satin-wood. The Malabar territory extends 
from Cape Comorin to 12° north latitude; Canara 
from 12° to 15°, and the Concon from 15° to 22°. 
The harbor of Bombay is one of the finest in the 
world, formed by the peculiar position and close 
proximity of a group of islands that shut in an 
arm of the sea along the mainland, making a 
superb bay, of which Bombay commands the 
entrance. These islands, located in front of the 
estuary of the Oolas, the chief river of the Concon, 
appear to form a sort of Delta, often so called. 
Callian, the ancient capital of the Concon, long 
one of the first commercial ports of southern India, 
is on this river. Viewed from whatever point, the 
harbor of Bombay always unfolds a panorama of 
surpassing beauty, its ever-changing scenes always 



40 Gieographical Divisions. 

new, and each seemingly more lovely than the last. 
In all the East, it has scarcely a counterpart, for 
either safety and commodiousness, or for the ra- 
diant beauty of its surroundings. The peculiarly- 
favorable location of Bombay in regard to com- 
merce seems to have been understood from remote 
antiquit}^, there being little doubt that this group of 
islands is the Archipelago of Heptanesia alluded 
to by the geographer Arrian. The island of Sal- 
sette, the largest of the group, was that first occu- 
pied by the Portuguese colonists, and it was at a 
much later period, after the fortification of Tanna 
and Bassein, that the port of Bombay was even 
thought of. 

The eastern or Madras coast-line is much ex- 
posed to the fury of the southwest monsoon, dur- 
ing the prevalence of whicli native vessels are un- 
able to venture out, and terrible storms frequently 
occur, endangering the safety of large ships all 
along the coast. Coringa is the only harbor where 
vessels of any considerable size may take refuge 
during these violent "squalls." There being no in- 
dentation of this coast, nor any island to break off 
the sea, a heavy, rolling swell prevails throughout 
the year. To avoid danger, vessels anchor in the 



The Eastern Coa^t, 41 

open roads ; those of large size keeping a mile or 
two from the shore, the swell causing them to 
pitch and roll as though out on mid-ocean. 

During the prevalence of the southwest mon- 
soon the danger is so great that for several 
months vessels are required to anchor still farther 
out, and to have their cargoes loaded and unload- 
ed by means of boats adapted for passing through 
the surf. The anchorage looks deserted, and pas- 
sengers to or from the ships liave to be waited 
on by catamarans — a sort of broad raft, not unlike a 
New England stone-sled. They are constructed by 
tying together, horizontally, three flattened timbers 
eight or ten feet long, then sharpening the point, 
and, laying over all a slight floor or coarse mat 
slitted where the timbers are joined. On this mat 
the rowers sit cross-legged, with the toes bent in- 
ward ; and in this position, which is the only one 
the case admits, they often remain for many con- 
secutive hours, propelling their rude crafts with 
slender paddles sharpened at both ends, and 
dipped first on one side and then on the other. 
The water of course rises between the timbers 
and washes over the little raft, wetting the rowers 
to their hips, and sometimes they may be washed 



42 Greo graphical Divisions. 

overboard ; but, in such cases, they leap nimbly 
into their places, and row on again as nonchalantly 
as before. The catamaran will float safel}" with a sea 
so rough that an ordinary boat could not survive 
for five minutes, and these boatmen do not mind a 
good wetting. Their clothing is very slight in- 
deed, consisting of but a single strip of muslin or 
calico, with the addition of the water-proof cap, that 
constitutes a very important part of the outfit 
needed by a Madras boatman, in his particular vo- 
cation. In this cap, containing more pockets than 
a peddler's overcoat, the boatman will carry, and 
keep them perfectly dry, letters, papers, and small 
parcels of all sorts, to and from the shore. Larger 
packages must be protected on all sides, by either 
tin or oil-cloth covers, and lashed tightly to the 
catamarans. In mild weather, large, deep boats 
are used, made without ribs, of thin, wide planks 
warped by fire to a proper shape, and tied together 
by strong twine, wliich also serves to keep in place 
the straw and mud used in calking the seams. 
There is not a single nail in the entire craft, from 
stem to stern, for none could, by any possible con- 
. trivance, be kept in place, under the sort of usage 
to which Madras boats are destined. The getting 






'' ' V -^l^lllll^: 




MOUNTAINEERS IN ACTION. 



The Ganges, 45 

ashore without a very respectable drenchmg, is cer- 
tainly an art in which one would seem to need 
practice in order to be made perfect, and these 
Madras men display a skill and energy scarcely to 
be surpassed. Keeping time to a very peculiar 
tune, they take first a long pull and then a short 
one, according to the motion of the waves, till at 
length they push the boat forward on a foaming 
surf, and she is thrown upon the beach. As she 
recedes, some jump out with the ropes, and at each 
returning wave they get her a little higher up, till 
she lies motionless upon the sands, like a great 
fish thrown high and dry upon the beach at low 
tide. 

The Ganges, the holy river of the Hindus, has 
such a history as could be revealed by no other 
stream in the wide world. Descendiug from a level 
of fifteen thousand feet above the sea, and run- 
ning a course of fifteen hundred miles, it receives at 
every point the most devout adoration. " The 
touch of its waters, nay, the very sight of them, 
takes away all sin." So say the Hindu Shasters, 
and to their fiat all yield unquestioniug assent. 
Drowning in the holy river is deemed an act of 
merit; and thousands of sick people endure the 



46 G-eographical Divisions. 

fatigue of long journeys that tliey may die upon 
its banks. The very name is derived from that of 
the goddess Gunga, who, the Hindus say, was pro- 
duced from tlie moisture of Vishnu's foot, caught 
by Brahma, and preserved in liis alms-disli ; and 
Gunga, coming down from heaven, divided herself 
into one hundred Ftreams,- the mouths of the 
Ganges. In Hindu courts of justice, the water of the 
Ganges is sworn upon, as the Bible is in ours ; and 
it has been estimated that from three to five hun- 
dred thousand people assemble annually at certain 
points of this river that they may, at the most 
propitious moment, bathe in its sacred waters ; and 
hundreds are crushed to death in their frantic at- 
tempts to press through the crowd. The Hooghly 
is one of the many streams by which the Ganges 
empties its waters into the Bay of Bengal, and 
the most sacred of its numerous mouths. 

The Indus, the great river of northwestern 
India, rises in the Himalayas, and with its tributa- 
ries, waters the great regions of the Punjaub and 
Scinde, entering the ocean at the western extrem- 
ity of the Desert. The fertilizing effects of the 
periodical inundations of this river are felt for full 
fort}^ miles, not only over other portions of Scinde, 



The Jumna. 4X 

as far as the western extremity of the province, 
but even on the Thorr itself, where occur occa- 
sional oases of considerable fertility. 

The Indus is crossed, near Attok, by a bridge of 
boats ; and the scenery around is picturesque and 
beautiful. 

The Nerbudda, next to the Indus, is the most 
important of the rivers that discharge their waters 
into the sea of Oman. It waters Central India, 
and marks the boundary between that division and 
the Deccan ; and, to the Hindus, it is scarcely less 
sacred than the Ganges. The Jumna is. a magnifi- 
cent tributary of the Ganges ; and the Bangunga, 
i. e., "Sister of the Ganges," is one of the tributa- 
ries of the Jumna. It has its source in the Kali 
Kho and Mewati Hills, and after a course of more 
than two hundred miles, it discharges its waters 
into the Jumna. The bed of the river, only a few 
miles from its source, is full three hundred yards 
wide, increasing to more than double this breadth 
towards the mouth. During the rains, it rushes 
down from the mountains in a foaming torrent, 
not only filling this huge channel, but often over- 
flowing its banks, and submerging the surround- 
ing country. The entire course of this river is 



48 (reographical Divisions. 

through a fertile and beautiful region, especially 
opposite Sheikoabad, where it empties. 

The Chenaub is the largest of the five rivers 
from which the Punjaub derives its name. Rising 
among the Himalayas, on the borders of Cash- 
mere, and holding a southwest course, it unites 
first with the Jhalum ; fifty miles farther on, with 
the Ravee ; then with the Ghara or Lower Sutlej ; 
from which point, it loses its name, and the united 
stream is called Punjund, which enters the Indus, 
just beyond the southern boundary of the Punjaub. 
One very singular feature of this river is, that the 
red waters of the Chenaub and the pale waters of 
the Ghara, each retain their distinct character for 
many miles down the united stream, where may be 
plainly seen the red on the western side, and the 
pale on the eastern ; but, when weary of coquet- 
ting, their union is finally consummated, and a 
modified tint of paler-red or redder-pale is the 
result. 

The Chumbul is a large river of Central India 
that rises on the northern slope of the Vindhyas 
at a height of two thousand feet above the sea- 
level. After a north and northeasterly course, it 
unites with the Jumna, about ninety miles south- 



The Betwa. 49 

east of Agra, Its whole length is about five hun- 
dred and seventy miles, and it has among its trib- 
utaries the Scinde and Parbuttee rivers. During 
a considerable portion of its course the Chumbul 
forms- the boundary between the Principality of 
Gwalior and the Rajput Provinces. 

The Scinde forms the boundary between the 
wild region of Bundelcunde and the kingdom of 
Duttiah. It is a river of importance, more than 
half a mile broad, with high banks, and a current 
so swift that it is very difficult to ferry across. 
The Betwa is the most important river in Bundel- 
cunde, has its source near Bhopal, and discharges 
its waters into the Jumna, after a course of three 
hundred and sixty miles. The people of Central 
India regard it as their sacred stream ; and from 
Oorcha to Raicia the waters are very pure. The 
Ambramutty, in the Presidency of Madras, is a 
branch of the Cavery, with which it unites nearly 
forty miles northwest of Trichinopoly. On the 
banks of the Ambramutty, near its junction with 
the Cavery, is the little town of Cavoor, contain- 
ing about a thousand houses, a fort, and a large 
temple. This is one of the earliest Indian posses- 



50 Geographical Divisions. 

sions of the English, having been in their hands 
since 1760. 

The Cavery is one of the chief rivers of south- 
ern India. It rises among the Coorg Hills near 
the Malabar coast, four thousand feet above the 
level of the sea, and flows in a circuitous course, 
mainly southeast, traversing the whole breadth of 
the peninsula ; and discharges its waters into the 
Bay of Bengal, on the Coromandel coast. In the 
vicinity of Trichinopoly it separates into several 
branches, which descend in distinct falls of two 
and three hundred feet, and enter the sea by nu- 
merous mouths, in the province of Tanjore. 
Though the Cavery is four hundred and seventy 
miles long it is navigable only for small boats. 
The only boats used are queer-looking circular 
baskets, from nine to fourteen feet in diameter, 
and covered with buffalo leather. In these, prod- 
uce is readily brought down stream; but, as the 
force of the current renders upward navigation im- 
possible, these strange little vessels are taken to 
pieces, and the leather carried back on the heads 
of the crew. The Falls of the Tons are situate 
some few miles to the north of Rewah, near the 
road to Allahabad. The river, on reaching the 



The Bombay Islands. 53 

confines of the plateau, dashes down from the 
height of four hundred feet hito the plam. A mag- 
nificent landscape adds to the beauty of this superb 
cataract — the only one of any importance in 
Northern India. 

Among the islands found on the coast of India, 
the Bomba}^ Group, as it is called, is in many re- 
spects the most important. This group is com- 
posed of about a dozen islands, of which Salsette is 
the largest, and Bombay one of the smallest ; 
though from its commercial rank the latter has 
given name to the entire group. The derivation 
of the name is from Bomha^ one of the appella- 
tives of the goddess Mamba Devi, to whom this 
island is dedicated. The name of the next in im- 
portance is Elephauta, famous for those wonderful 
cave-temples, over the origin of which scholars of 
tAvo continents have been quarrelling for several 
generations. The island is parted into two peaks, 
rounded and completely covered with woods up to 
their very summits. The water on the coast is so 
very shallow that the boatmen have to wade ashore, 
with the water waist-high, to land their passengers, 
whom they carrj" in a sort of impromptu chair, 
formed by the interweaving of two pairs of stal- 



54 G-eo graphical Divisions. 

wart arms. Near the landing is a colossal stone 
elephant which, though now much mutilated and 
sunken by its own great weight, still stands con- 
spicuous on the shore. It was from this huge 
sculptured quadruped that the little island re- 
ceived its name, bestowed by the early Portuguese 
settlers. It is called by the natives, Grarapuri ; 
and is just five miles from Bombay. The names 
of several of these islands are Drave, Basse'in 
Versova, and Trombay, besides some that are 
smaller and of little importance. On the opposite 
side from Bombay is Karanja, its mountains rising 
in the form of a camel's back, in the midst of a 
dense vegetation that runs riot over all the level 
portions of the island down to the water's edge. 
This island is famous for a Hindu temple which, 
though only about two centuries old, lays claim to 
extreme antiquity, and is an object of supreme 
veneration on the ground of having been erected 
on the site, and with the identical remains of an 
ancient Jain temple that was thrown down by 
some of the hordes of Hyder Ali. But beyond 
these few leading facts, little seems to be really au- 
thenticated concerning this Avonderful island-tem- 
ple so highly venerated by the credulous people. 



Kararija Island. 55 

On the opposite side of the island, the vegetation 
is of a very peculiar character, being composed of 
gigantic trees standing apart from each other, and 
appearing to spring from stony ground, quite de- 
void of brushwood — thus furnishing a cool shel- 
tered retreat where the tired pilgrim may walk or 
recline at pleasure. One of these trees, a beautiful 
sal, of huge proportions, is noted throughout the 
country, and regarded also with religious venera- 
tion for its very peculiar growth. The numerous 
branches grow straight outwards for a time, and 
then, by reason of their great length, bend down- 
wards to the very ground, thus forming a grand 
circular dome, perfectly shaded, within which a 
thousand persons may readily find shelter. Not 
far off, is an equally-wonderful banian, said by the 
priests to number its age by centuries, five or six 
at least. The original trunk has entirely disap- 
peared, and in its place has been erected a small 
temple, thus wholly embowered in a tangled mass 
of natural columns, that in turn support other 
branches of the same parent stem from which their 
own existence was derived ; and constituting a shrine 
of weird but wondrous beauty. 

The island of Salsette has for its chief town 



56 Greo graphical Divisions. 

Tannah, situated about twenty miles from Bom- 
bay. An excellent bridge, with both railway and 
carriage road, spans the water at this point, con- 
necting the island with the main land. Tannah 
was one of the earliest settlements of the Portu- 
guese, and the capital of their colony during their 
palmy days in India. It was conquered in 1737 by 
the Mahrattas, who devastated its fair precincts, 
and left it almost in ruins. It came into possession 
of the English about thirty years later, and they 
have since held it, but it has never regained its 
former importance. The Bombay Prison is a well- 
regulated penal institution located here ; and there 
are confined in it criminals of so vast a number of 
castes, creeds, languages and proclivities, as to re- 
quire a very peculiar discipline, enabling the rulers 
to preserve order, and jQi avoid interfering with 
the religious prejudices of the inmates. For the 
rest, this island is rich in memorials of antiquity, 
containing two groups of remarkable Buddhist 
caves at Kenhari and Magatani, and several superb 
Brahmin caves at Jygeysir and Monpezir. The 
island is connected with Bombay by a long, wide 
causeway across the little strait that separates the 
two islands. Upon the bay thus formed, are 



The Strait of Ghora-Banda. 59 

located lovely country-seats amid groves of pict- 
uresque palms. At the Portuguese village of 
Mahira, there is a large convent and one or two 
Romish churches. This was, in the days of Port- 
uguese supremacy, an important shipping port, but 
it has been deposed from its high position by the 
rivalry of Bombay, as well as the very malarious 
character of the climate. At the northern end of 
the island a superb iron viaduct crosses the Strait 
of Ghora-Bandar, that separates Salsette from 
Basse'in, enclosing a lovely bay, on whose smooth 
surface is dancing, at all hours, a fleet of native 
boats, fragile and picturesque as a bevy of wild fowl 
sporting on the summer lake. This point commands 
an extensive prospect of grand and beautiful scen- 
ery. On one side are wooded banks and massive 
rocks enclosing the blue arms of the majestic sea, 
and on the other rises a long, steep promontory 
crowned with the walls of the old Portuguese city 
of Bassein and its lovely bay. Bassein was one of 
the most flourishing of the Lansitanian colonies ; 
and the remains of the great Albuquerque * lie here 
under a marble tomb that is half buried beneath 
the encroachments of creeping plants and thd rank 

* " Albuquerque, the Great, called the Portuguese Mars, was born near Lis- 
bon, in 1452, and died at Goa on the Malabar coast, December i6, 1515. 



60 0-eographical Divisions. 

tropic growth of this fertile soil. Within the 
walled city there remains nothing of the old 
gr uideur, save the ruined spires of a few churches; 
but most of the hills in the vicinit}^ are marked 
by the remains of castles, forts and convents, that 
were once a beauty and a joy, but alas ! not for- 
ever. Residing in the little villages around Bas- 
se'in, there are quite a number of Portuguese 
staid, matter-of-fact villagers of the olden type, 
who seem to have stood still all these years, while 
the rest of the world was moving onward, and 
who live here in their quiet nook, probabl}^ just as 
did their ancestors of the centuries agone. 

At the mouth of the Hooghly, one of the 
branches of the Ganges, is the great island of 
Sanger, one of the most holy places of the Hindu. 
The Hooghly being considered the true mouth of 
the Ganges, and the junction of this sacred stream 
with the ocean being at Saugor, great sanctit}^ is 
attached to the place. An annual festival is held 
here in January, attended by thousands of Hindus, 
some of whom come from a distance of five or six 
hundred miles. Crowds of people, leaving their 
boats, erect booths or tents on the adjacent sand- 
banks, the Oars of the boats being set up to sup- 
port the tents and shops. Here, within a few 




PEASANTS OF THE DOAB. 



Crunga, 63 

days, an uninhabited island will be transformed 
into a large and populous city, full of streets, lanes 
and bazaars ; where people are buying, selling, and 
practising various handicrafts as in a city. But 
the masses, men, women and children, are most of 
the time busy bathing in the water, that to them 
represents a God, worshipping Gunga by prostra- 
tions and salaams^ spreading out their offerings on 
the shore, for the goddess to take when the tides 
rise, and daubing their heads and breasts with the 
mud that they regard as a panacea for sin and 
suffering. Formerly, thousands used to throw 
themselves and their children into the river from 
this island, hoping thereby to gain the favor of 
their gods ; but this is no longer permitted by the 
British Government, and during the festival, an 
English officer with fifty Seapoy soldiers is placed 
here to prevent these cruel sacrifices. A few dev- 
otees usually reside on the island, and contrive for 
a while to avoid the tigers. The pilgrims are sup- 
ported by the donations of boatmen, who believe 
their own safety is ensured by the presence of these 
holy men. Besides these, the island is occupied 
mainly by tigers. 

Another great island is Ceylon, three hundred 



64 Geographical Divisions. 

miles long and one hundred and fift}" broad at the 
widest part. It lies in the Indian Ocean, soutli- 
east of Madras, with mountain ranges towering in 
the centre, and beneath them spread out on all 
sides, are plains of wondrous beauty and fertility. 
The highest peaks on the island are Pedrotalla- 
galla, eight thousand two hundred and eiglit}^ feet 
above the sea, Adam's Peak, seven thousand four 
hundred and twenty feet ; and the Sanitarium of 
Newera Ellia, six thousand two hundred and ten 
feet ; with others, which will be mentioned farther 
on. 



CHAPTER II. 



MOUNTAIN SYSTEMS. 



MOUNT Dhawalageri, twenty-eight thousand 
one hundred and seventy-nine feet above 
the level of the sea, is one of the loftiest peaks of 
the great Himalayas, and Avas for many years 
accredited by geographers as the calminatiug point 
of our earth. But, in the year 1854, the adjacent 
peak of Mount Everest was ascertained to be 
twenty-nine thousand two hundred and forty feet 
above the sea, or nearly eleven hundred feet 
higher than Mount Dhawalageri ; and Mount 
Everest has enjoyed the honorable distinction of 
being reckoned the highest known point on the 
globe. It is doubtless upon the ancient, wide- 
spread reputation of Mount Dhawalageri, and the 
"65 



6(5 Mou7itain Systems. 

marvellous stories and traditions circulated by the 
Hindus of its wondrous height that the Buddhists 
have based their fiction of Mount Phrd-su-ma-ru- 
rdt, honestly believed by them to be the grand 
centre of our entire system of worlds. Of its 
fabled wonders they have written whole volumes ; 
and at its base they locate their " seven hells," the 
unfortunate occupants of which sink lower and 
lower in sin and suffering, just in proportion to 
their location. The " seven heavens " also, accord- 
ing to the Buddhists, are located around the sides 
of this " great central mountain," each rising 
higher and higher, until Nighan^ the very summum 
honum is reached. 

Upon the Mussoorri range of the Himalayas the 
English have quite a famous botanic garden. The 
climate here is not warmer than that of Central 
Europe, and is quite as healthful and agreeable. 
The average temperature during May and June, 
the two hottest months, is about sixty-six degrees, 
and on the very warmest day, the thermometer 
does not rise above eighty in the shade. During 
the cool season, which occurs in the months of 
December, January and February, the average 
range of the glass is about forty-three ; and at 



I)harjeliny, the Sanitarium, 69 

night, for several consecutive months, it falls as 
low as thirty-two. 

On the Sik-kim Hills, near the Himalayas, is the 
English Sanitarium of Dharjeling. It is seven 
thousand feet above the level of the sea, and the 
climate is charmingly salubrious, in contrast with 
the sultry atmosphere of the plains, the thermome- 
ter rarely rising above seventy, even in the warmest 
months. From the summit, the snow-crowned 
Himalayas are plainly visible ; and the scenery all 
around the settlements is varied and beautiful, 
uniting the delights of two zones, the lovely tropic 
verdure, and the salubrious breezes of temperate 
latitudes. The distance of Dharjeling from Cal- 
cutta is nearly three hundred and fifty miles, 
part of which, may be accomplished by means of 
river-boats, and the remainder by palanquin over 
good and safe roads, with the occasional help of 
the paJkeegJiaree. 

Stretching along the lower chain of the Hima- 
layas lies a region of peaty swamp-lands, known 
as the Tarai. Various mountain springs, filtering 
through the soil, keep it always moist ; while vast 
masses of decaying vegetable matter, swept down 
by the rains from the mountains, fill the air with 



70 Mountain Systems. 

pestilential vapors, rendering this locality wholly 
unfit for human habitation. Yet there is a sparse 
population of wretched, cadaverous-looking natives, 
who earn a scanty living by felling and sawing 
logs, though they suffer much from jungle and in- 
termittent fevers, and there is a great mortality 
among them. During the years 1875 and 1876 
tw*o English officers, accompanied by the wife of 
one of them, paid a two years' visit to Dharjeling ; 
aud thence, when their sojourn at the Sanitarium 
was concluded, they set forth, with numerousr 
attaches and attendants, about seventy in all, upon 
an impromptu exploring tour, far into the interior 
of this mountain region. This novel and interest- 
ing trip occupied about three months' time, during 
. which they succeeded in gaining an elevation of 
about eighteen thousand feet above the seaboard 
before turning their faces homeward. A portion 
of the trip was accomplished very comfortably on 
horseback ; but as the way grew more rugged with 
the upward march, the ponies became valueless, 
and the gentlemen of the party had to continue 
their route on foot, though for the lady a dandy- 
hareAlly was improvised, and did effective service. 
But after a while, as the ascent grew still more 



Dharjeling. 71 

steep, and the footing more uncertain, even the 
" dandy " was no longer avaihibie ; and this enter- 
prising lady tourist had no choice left her but to 
be carried forward in an arm-chair strapped to the 
back of the stoutest of her attendants. 

At the beginning, when the three travellers left 
Calcutta for Dharjeling, the first stage, of one 
hundred and fifty miles, was made at night by a 
railway running parallel with the Ganges, on its 
left bank. At dawn, the rail-car was exchanged 
for a steamboat ; and at sunset the little party had 
reached the town of Caragola, on the right bank 
of the river. The second night's travel was made 
by the " government bullock train,'' at a rate of 
one and a half miles per hour ; which, proving a 
somewhat exhaustive process for the patience of 
our travellers, the government conveyance was ex- 
changed for a palkeegharee^ a native vehicle with 
closed sides, and about sufficient space to accommo- 
date two passengers in a recumbent posture, while 
the servants and luggage are bestowed upon the 
roof, and the whole is drawn by two stout oxen. 
In this manner the}^ journe3^ed to the foot of the 
Himalaya mountains, alighting at the Terai, which, 



72 Mountain Systems. 

though three hundred miles from Calcutta, is only 
three hundred feet above the sea-level. 

But, from this point the ascent grows more 
abrupt. Punkabaree, the first station on the 
mountain, is eighteen hundred feet above the sea ; 
and Kursiong, only six miles further, is three 
thousand feet higher. Tea of excellent quality is 
very extensively cultivated in the region round 
Kursiong ; and forest trees are rapidly disappear- 
ing, to be replaced by tea-shrubs, thus utilizing, 
but greatly diminishing the picturesque beauty of 
these mountain regions. From Kursiong, after 
twenty miles over a broad, smooth road winding 
round the hill sides, the travellers halted before 
the English cantonments, seven thousand feet 
above the sea. Dharjeling occupies the summit of 
a ridge, from which descend on either side deep, 
fertile valleys, where oranges, bananas and cocoa- 
nuts grow spontaiieousl_y, and sugar-cane is suc- 
cessfully cultivated ; while on the " top," hres and 
thick clothing are needed almost the year round. 
Mount Everest, the highest peak of the Himalayas, 
is not seen from Dharjeling, but Mount Dhawala- 
ghiri, twenty-ei<;ht thousand one hundred and 
seventy-nine feet in height; Mount Junno, twenty- 




INHABITANTS OF THF ISLAND OF SALSEITt, NEAR BOMBAY 



Dliarjeling. 75 

five thousand three hundred and eleven feet; 
Mount Kubra, twenty-four thousand and fifteen; 
Donkia, twenty-three thousand one hundred and 
seventy-six feet, and Pundeem, twenty-two thous- 
and two hundred and seven feet, with some 
seven or eight others, each of which rises more 
than twenty-thousand feet above the sea, are all 
plainly visible from the military sanitarium of 
Dharjeling. It was in the year 1835 that the 
English Government first projected this institution ; 
and the Rajah of Sik-kim was induced, in consider- 
ation of the annual payment by the English of 
three hundred pounds, to cede to them a small tract 
of land sufficient for the erection of extensive 
hospitals, lodging-houses for invalids, and other 
buildings needed by a Sanitary Commission. After 
some fifteen years, difficulties arising between the 
contracting parties, culminating at length into 
open hostilities, the English being the stronger 
side, from thenceforth refused to pay any portion 
of the three hundred pounds ; at the same time, 
laying violent hands upon a much larger tract of 
land, for the erection of additional sanitariums, 
barracks, churches, etc., for which no compensation 
was even named. In this case, as in a thousand 



76 Mountain Systems. 

others, where the strong and the weak war against 
each other, might was made to usurp the place of 
right, and the Rajah had no alternative but to sub- 
mit to the gross injustice practised on him by a 
professedly Christian government. Besides the 
public buildings owned by the government in 
Dharjeling, there are many lovely cottages and 
elegant villas owned by officers and citizens of 
Calcutta and elsewhere. These are nearly always 
occupied by the families or friends of the owners, 
in constant rotation, one set going as another 
comes, even during pleasant weather ; and in the 
hot months, Avhen everybody leaves Calcutta who 
can get away, these mountain residences are filled 
to repletion. The climate of Dharjeling has been 
found so highly beneficial to invalids, when re- 
sorted to in season, that the number of visitors is 
generally limited only by the measure of accom- 
modations. The natives have several very con- 
venient arrangements for conveying the sick up 
and down the mountains. First among these is 
the dorlie, a covered litter, softl^^-cushioned, mus- 
lin-curtained, and easy as a sick-room cot. It is 
borne by " bearers," like a palanquin, without 
jolting or fatigue to the invalid, who can sit or 



The Bareilly -dandy. 77 

recline as most agreeable ; and unless extremely 
ill, derives both pleasure and benefit from this 
gentle exercise. Another native invention is the 
hareilly-dandy^ which consists of a reclining cane- 
chair suspended by straps from a strong, boat- 
shaped wooden frame, that terminates in a pole at 
each end. This is carried by four "bearers," who 
are relieved at short intervals. The " dandy " is 
specially suited for ascending or descending moun- 
tains, in which case it is desirable for the " team " 
each time to be composed of two tall and two 
short men. In going up, the short ones, of course, 
are " to the fore," and the arrangement is reversed 
in, going down. 

There is yet another ingenious contrivance for 
the invalid traveller, less used than the others, and 
only brought into requisition on very steep accliv- 
ities, or for ladies, in localities where it would be 
impossible for them to maintain a foothold. Only 
the strongest and most trusty bearers are employed 
for this variety of ton-jon, and their wages are 
more than double the amount paid to the ordinary 
" bearer," since both the fatigue and the responsi- 
bility are proportionately augmented. The ton- 
jon is merely a cane-chair placed on the back of a 



78 Mountain SystemB, 

stout bearer and bound by means of strong leather 
straps around his arms and forehead, while he 
keeps his footing and plods patiently onward by 
the aid of a trusty stafP. 

As the foreign residents at Dharjeling have in- 
creased in number, native villages have sprung up 
all around the settlement; and the population, that 
twenty-five j^ears ago was estimated at only five 
thousand, now exceeds twenty thousand. Of 
these some two thousand are Europeans and their 
descendants ; and the remainder are mainly Bhoo- 
tias and Lopchas^ with a very small admixture of 
natives from other portions of India — chiefly 
those in the employ of European residents, as 
servants. 

As the tourist nears Dharjeling, he begins to 
imagine himself " certainly in the fashion," for 
every part of the road is crowded with ponies and 
pedestrians, ox-carts and hackeries drawn by buffa- 
loes, hauling passengers and their belongings, 
lighter carriages with ladies in " full dress " on the 
evening drive, officers in uniform, tvith toilettes, 
costumes and colors in every possible variety. 

The Pur Pandjal is a lofty chain of glaciers, 
forming a formidable though by no means impass- 



i^">^^' 



- -1% ,^ -* 



"^1 




A CHILD COMMITTED TO THE RIVER JUNNA BY ITS MOTHER. 



Simla. 81 

able barrier between the burning plains of the 
Punjaub and the cool valleys of Cashmere. Dur- 
ing the warm months, parties of native traders 
often take this route between Serin aghur and 
Lodiana, bringing from the former large quanti- 
ties of the textile fibre from which the famous 
Cashmere shawls- are made, for the suppl}* of the 
Lodiana looms ; as well as large packages of the 
shawls themselves, which find a ready market 
among the native Indian Princes and Rajahs. 

Almost buried in a ravine of the Himalayas, one 
hundred and forty miles due north from Delhi, is 
Simla, the fashionable resort during the hot 
months of a very large proportion of the English 
residents of Calcutta. In itself merely a large 
village, Simla is, for about six months of every 
year, invested with the important position of Capi- 
tal of British India. Here the Governor-general 
has an elegant villa, with offices and dwellings for 
his staff and the chief functionaries of govern- 
ment ; and with the first oppressive days of the 
hot season the hegira commences. The whole 
concourse of the elite naturally follow the foot- 
steps of the court ; and thus, from April to 
October, Calcutta, " City of Palaces," sinks to the 



82 Mountain Systems. 

insignificance of a provincial town. Meanwhile, 
vice-regal decrees emanate only from Simla, the 
Official Gazette displays the name of the new 
favorite at the head of its columns, and newspaper 
reporters must draw from this little moun- 
tain town such items of " Court News," and 
" Personals " of the beau-monde as may be needed 
to meet the requirements of their readers. This 
semi-annual removal of the seat of government is 
both inconvenient and expensive, though of late 
3^ears a railroad over the larger portion of the 
route has brought the two " capitals " nearer to- 
gether. Simla has a first-class English hotel, 
where rousing fires, a plentiful table, and good 
beds, well provided with snowy sheets and. thick 
blankets, give the travellers a cheery welcome. 

Kalka is a pretty village at the foot of the 
mountain, one of the lower steps to the ascent ; 
and here, before the railroad to the summit was 
completed, tourists had of necessity to stop, in 
order to obtain ponies or jampans for the comple- 
tion of the journey to Simla. The jampan is 
another Hindu contrivance belonging especially to 
the Himalayas. It is almost identical with the 
'' dandy,'' except that the former is provided with 



Simla. 8S 

• 

a sort of oil-skin roof as a protection from the 
sun. 

The long line of the Sirmour mountains, all cov- 
ered with glaciers and thick forests, is plainly visi- 
ble before reaching Simla and the celebrated peak 
of Jacko in the immediate vicinity of the little 
town. Nevertheless, at this point are attained 
only the lowest steps or first gradation of the 
gigantic Himalayas, whose vast system of snow- 
covered peaks extends so many thousands of feet 
upwards and onwards. From here, climate, vege- 
tation, all are changed ; even the features of the 
people, whose small eyes, high cheek-bones, broad 
noses, and wide mouths proclaim their Mongul 
descent. In truth this is no longer India, though 
of India. It is plainly annexed territory, and its 
people are the same as those belonging to Thibet 
and China — hardy mountaineers, called by the 
Hindus Paharis, the term being applied indiscrimi- 
nately to all mountaineers without regard to race. 
The very cottages seem to have been transported 
from a distance, and the villages are those of China 
or the mountains of Europe, while the men wear 
trousers and woollen waistcoats in lieu of their 
flowing tropic robes, and some have felt hats in- 



84 Mountain Systems. 

stead of muslin turbans. Palms and mangoes dis- 
appear altogether, and their places are usurped by 
firs and plane-trees, while the lovely-tinted rho- 
dodendrons lavish their wealth among rocks and 
ravines. 

Another noted momitain town is Bhadrinath, 
in the district of Gurhwal on the right bank of 
the river Vishnu-gunga. It lies in a valley of the 
Himalaya mountains, ten thousand feet above the 
sea-level, while the peaks in the immediate vicinity 
of the town tower aloft from twenty-one thousand 
to twenty-three thousand feet. Bhadrinath is 
famous for a temple of Vishnu that is reputed to 
be very ancient, though the building has quite a 
modern look, possibly from recent improvements. 
Below the temple is a tank thirty feet square, fed by 
a thermal spring with which it is connected by a 
subterranean passage. The chief object of wor- 
ship in the temple is an idol of black marble 
robed in gold and silver brocade ; and the ablu- 
tions performed in the tank are supposed to be 
efficacious in washing away all past sin. 

For nearly six months of every year, from 
November to April, the temple is closed on ac- 
count of the excessive cold ; but, during the 



Chirr a Punjee. 85 

remaining portion of the time, it is the resort of 
numerous pilgrims, the number reaching fifty 
thousand at the celebration of the Kumbh Mela 
festival, that takes place every twelfth year and is 
attended with much splendor and most extrava- 
gant outlay. 

Chirra Punjee is a town in northeastern India, 
situated on the Cossya Hills at a height of four 
thousand two hundred feet above the sea. Its 
temperature during the hot season is full twenty 
degrees lower than the plains in the same latitude, 
but for some unascertained reason the climate has 
not been found favorable to the health of Euro- 
peans. There are valuable mines of coal and iron in 
this region, but little effort has been made to 
develop their wealth. 

The Aravalis range, separating from the great 
net-work of mountains in Central India, runs in a 
northerly direction through Rajputana as far as 
Delhi. The peaks are composed mainly of granite 
resting on massive beds of blue slate, while the 
valleys are rich in many-tinted quartz, and in 
laminated slates of various hues from gold to pui"- 
ple. This is one of the richest of all the mineral 
fields of India, Besides its ixn told wealth of gold. 



SB Mountain St/stems. 

silver, lead, tin, copper, carbuncles, amethysts, 
chrysolites, garnets, emeralds and rock-crystal, it 
contains also, black and colored marbles, gneiss 
and sienite. The higher portions of the moun- 
tains are inhabited by the Pal Bheels, a race who, 
despite their present degradation, yet retain un- 
questionable evidences of a former civilization far 
above the people about them. 

From Ajmere, some of the finest scenery of the 
Aravalis is visible — piled-up rocks, ravines and 
mountains, out of the midst of which rises the 
town with its far-famed fortress of Teraghur sur- 
rounded by a belt of verdure like an oasis in a 
desert. Sharp peaks shoot upward on all sides ; 
ravines that seem unfathomable make the head 
grow dizzy to look into their dreary abyss; giant 
cacti are all aglow with their rich crimson blooms ; 
and graceful ferns and parasites reflect the bright 
tropic sun in rose-tinted halos. The rocky heights 
of Teraghur are very abrupt and the ascent is dif- 
ficult; but the summit commands a magnificent 
view of the town, and of all the surrounding 
scenery. It is from this huge rock, on which is 
built the fortress commanding the town, that 
Ajmere (^Aji-mer, " Invincible Mountain ") derives 



Nag a Pahar. 89 

its name. Near Poshkur, about ten miles from 
Ajmere is the equally famous Naga Pahar^ " Rock 
of the Serpent," likewise associated with the mem- 
ory of Aja Pal, the builder of the fortress of Tera- 
ghur ; and at Naga Pahar may still be seen the 
ruins of his ill-fated castle. 

These mountains abound in springs, and for this 
reason they have from time immemorial been a 
favorite resort of ascetics. The Brahmins say 
that the great Bhirtrari, the brother of King 
Vikramaditya, lived here as a hermit for many 
3^ears at the shrine of Naga Pahar : and the marble 
slab on which this noted anchorite used to sleep is 
still shown to thousands of credulous pilgrims 
who come annually to kiss the sacred stone. Just 
beyond Peshkur, between the two parallel moun- 
tain ranges, is a long, narrow valley almost filled 
with sand which is piled up on eitheiTsrde nearly 
to the mountain tops, leaving only a narrow uncer- 
tain path in the middle with an aspect dreary as a 
desert — the very reverse of -the lovely valley 
around Ajmere. 

Between Doudon anA Jeypore occur a series of 
sandy plains with no sign of vegetation. This 
sand is so strongly impregnated with salt that 



90 Mou7itain Systems. 

simply by washing and evaporation excellent salt 
is obtained ; and so extensive are the plains and 
so rich the yield, that nearly the entire community 
derive their support from the manufacture and 
sale of salt, to the total neglect of agricultural 
pursuits. 

Among the Doungher Mountains is Tintouni, a 
town of note, as the entrance to the defiles of the 
mountains ; and also as the abode of the chief of 
tlie Thakours^ a haughty race whose character and 
habits take one back to the old feudal times with 
their tyranny, barbarisms and exactions of "black- 
mail " tribute. It seems odd enough to find thus, 
in the very heart of Asia, a reproduction of Euro- 
pean customs of an age long gone by. The castle 
of the Thakoura chief, strongly built and fortified, 
stands on a commanding eminence with a quaint 
medley of terraces, towers and pinnacles over- 
looking the precipice. A very steep declivity 
leads to the gate of the keep, which is well de- 
fended by numerous small towers and iron-bound 
stakes ; while the interior would seem a very 
transcript of the old feudal fortress of half a 
dozen centuries agone. These chiefs, despite their 
rapacious propensities, are, as a rule, models of 



Blackmail. 93 

serenity, dignity and courtliness, receiving and en- 
tertaining their guests with a princely air and self- 
sustained consciousness of birth and blood, that 
one not "to the manner born," would find it im- 
possible to imitate. During some few years past 
the English Government has attempted to com- 
pel these fierce warriors to renounce their system 
of brigandage ; but they have accomplished 
merely a modification. " Blackmail " is levied on 
every caravan as heretofore ; but now it is called 
" tribute," not plunder. From being the robber 
of travellers, the chief has become their " pro- 
tector," furnishing guides and guards for a hand- 
some " consideration ; " and instead of pillaging, 
he " taxes " them. So the chief gets his bonus, 
and every traveller and trader has to " pay tithes 
of all," bat the " Blackmail " bears a different 
name under the new regime. 

Much of the country among the Dounghers is 
indescribably wild, and some of the passes are ex- 
tremely difficult. The number of tigers and other 
wild beasts found here greatly adds to the danger 
of travel, and human thieves and depredators are 
not wanting. But the scenery is so grand and pict- 
uresque that one willingly incurs the risk to enjoy 



94 Mountain Systems, 

by a coup d'ceil, such a vision of superb moun- 
tains and fertile valleys, myriads of the loveliest 
flowers dotting every little oasis, and whole miles 
of mountain declivities covered with grand old 
forests that reckon their age by centuries. 

At Kairwara, the English Government has 
established an out-post for the purpose of keeping 
the Bheels in check. The garrison is composed 
entirely of native soldiers, commanded by some 
half a dozen English officers. 

The defiles here gradually become wider, and 
the mountains are circular and less lofty; but the 
summits are bare, seeming to be composed mainly 
of laminated schist, with thick veins of milky 
quartz, and are not at all adapted to vegetation. 

The range of Indian mountains next in length 
to the Himalayas, is the Vindhya^ which crosses 
the peninsula from east to west, between the 
twenty-third and twenty-fifth parallels of north 
latitude, and in length, extending from 74° to 84° 
of east longitude, following very nearly the valley 
of the river Nerbudda. The highest peaks of 
this range are about twenty-five hundred feet 
above the level of the sea ; while in some portions 
they do not exceed seven hundred feet. The 



The Vindhya Mountains. 97 

greater part of the land south of the Vindhyas, as 
far as the Gap of Comibatore, consists of elevated 
table-lands skirted by mountains, which toward 
the coast terminate in plains. Here and there 
little villages meet the eye, and at almost every 
eligible point this shrine-loving people have erected 
something or other to memorialize their gods and 
invite the offerings and adoration of every passing 
traveller. Zayats are numerous along the high- 
ways. These are large, covered buildings with 
open sides, where are always to be secured by the 
weary traveller a cool resting-place, with plenty of 
fresh water, and sometimes other conveniences for 
as long a time as he may desire. But though the 
peaks of the Vindhyas proper are none of them 
very lofty, there are several offshoots that extend 
through the district of Chittagong, from Assam to 
Cape Negrais, the peaks of which vary in height 
from three thousand to eight thousand feet above 
the sea-level. These mountains are the abodes 
of wild tribes whom no government has ever been 
able to reduce to subjection, though Moguls, 
Afghans, Tartars, and English have successively 
claimed dominion over them. 

The great river Chumbul has its rise on the 



98 Mountain Systems, 

northern slope of the Vindhyas, at an elevation of 
two thousand feet above the sea-level, whence it 
flows northward and north-eastward before unit- 
ing with the Jumna. 

It is in the vicinity of the Vindhyas, among the 
hills adjacent to Cambay, that are obtained the 
celebrated cornelians known as " Cambay stones." 
They are found thickly embedded in the small 
mounds between the Bowa Gore and Bowa Abbas, 
where they are quarried by native miners. 

The Deccan, south of the Vindhyas, is bounded 
on all four sides by lofty mountain ranges known 
as the Ghauts, and distinguished respectively as 
the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western 
Ghauts. This name is given only by Europeans 
to the mountains themselves, being applied by 
natives to the passes, the word Ghaut meaning 
" an opening between mountains." The Ghauts, 
or passes, are so very numerous on these moun- 
tains, and are so frequently alluded to by the 
natives, that those not very familiar with the ver- 
nacular of the country have misunderstood the 
meaning of the term and given this misnomer. 
It is not unusual for a Hindu, on hearing a Euro- 
pean express the desire or intention of " visiting 



100 MQuntain Systems, 

the Ghauts," to reply : " It will be pleasctnter to 
ascend the mountains. The Grhauts (passes) are 
not so cool and invigoratmg as the toj)s of the 
hills." 

The Eastern Ghauts, running parallel with the 
coast and dividing the Carnatic into two parts, 
are a range of highlands terminating in craggy 
granite peaks. The road from the foot is hilly 
and rough, and bullocks instead of horses are 
used not only for the transportation of baggage, 
but also for drawing the light dandy in which pas- 
sengers in India usuall}^ travel over lengthy roads. 
A journey of about two days over granite hills 
and through steep passes amid masses of rock 
rolled into ra^vines, and the stunted mountain 
growth, brings the traveller to the elevated plateau 
reaching from the Eastern to the Western Ghauts, 
with a varying elevation of from two to three 
thousand feet above the sea. This table-land is a 
lovely, rolling countr}^, clothed with meadows, 
fields and villages, looking fair and fertile com- 
pared with the burning plains below the moun- 
tains. The difference of climate between the 
elevated table-lands of India and the sea-board is 
very marked. The sea-coast of the Carnatic, ex- 



\ 

The Carnatic. 101 

tending from latitude 16° to Cape Comorin, is the 
hottest portion of India, the thermometer often 
rising to 130° in the shade ; while on the moun- 
tains, in the same latitude, the mornings and even- 
ings are always cool: and even at noon, the glass 
rarely shows a greater elevation than 70° in 
the shade. Fires and thick clothing are needed 
for three or four months of the year, close- 
fitting glass windows are a luxury, and the pallor 
and w^eariness of the sultry plains are soon re- 
placed by roseate cheeks and a bounding pulse. 

The ancient Hindu kingdom of Carnata, of 
which Mysore was the capital, occupies this beau- 
tiful table-land, and here in our own day, is Ban- 
galore^ the most charming and healthful of all the 
stations of Southern India occupied by the British 
Government. Westward from Bangalore, the 
road runs through a hilly country well adapted to 
the cultivation of grain. 

A little to the south of Mysore, a steep hill of a 
thousand feet high rises abruptly from the plain. 
Its summit supplies a magnificent natural observa- 
tory, whence may be enjoyed a view of some of 
the most beautiful scenery of Southern India, over 
which the cloud-capped mountains in the distance 



iiiiiiis.is§ 



* ■I"" ^^^^^m 



A Sacred Hill. 103 

seem to be standing sentinel. This hill is noted 
among the Hindus as the site of two very famous 
temples, to which thousands of pilgrims annually 
resort ; and also, as the spot whence a colossal bull, 
an object of supreme reverence among the Hindus, 
was cut from the solid rock. There is another of 
these sacred mountains near Wandiwash — a tall, 
rugged granite mountain peak, rising abruptly 
from the plain, some two miles from the town. 
The ascent is by steps cut into the solid rock, and 
the summit is crowned by seven small temples 
dedicated to the elephant-headed Ganesha. The 
architecture of the shrines is beautiful and ingen- 
ious, resting at different elevations, partly on pil- 
lars of rock and partly on levelled portions of the 
peak. In the rock have been hewn also large 
hollow cavities for offerings, where are deposited 
gifts of oil and fruits, brought by the thousands 
of pilgrims wjio flock annually to the festival held 
at this famous spot. These offerings are carried 
off by the Brahmins, who dispose of them as prox- 
ies for the idols. 

Every morning a Brahmin ascends to this moun- 
tain temple to perform the daily worship ; and at 
evening a religious ascetic purchases a degree of 



104 Mountain Systems. 

merit, by mounting the steep ascent to light a 
lamp before the shrine. 

In the prospect from the summit the great 
temples of Conjeveram, thirty miles away, are 
plainly visible ; and all around the craggy hills, 
scattered here and there over the plain, are towns 
and villages ; the houses embowered in trees, and 
their little gardens or fields spread out before 
them, gleaming brightly in the tropic sunshine. 

Forming a connecting link between the Eastern 
and Western Ghauts, as they approach the lower 
end of the peninsula, are the celebrated " Neil- 
gherry Hills," with a base of two hundred miles 
in circumference. A dense jungle, infested with 
ferocious beasts of prey, and the home of noxious 
reptiles, stretches out on every side of the " Hills," 
as if to guard the entrance to the Paradise above. 

These " Hills," which are really mountains, 
derive their name from two Hindustanee words, 
nila^ " blue," and giri^ " mountain." Towering 
above all the other mountains south of the Hima- 
layas their summits are seen always clothed in the 
azure of the clouds, and hence received their name, 
Niligiri, (" Blue Mountains,") which the English 
have gradually changed to " Neilgherry," affixing 




CAVES OF KEN HART. 



106 Mountain Systems* 

" Hills " to the name. Ascending by the Seegoor 
Pass, the delighted tourist finds himself not on a 
mountain peak, barren and cheerless, but on an 
elevated table-land, broken into ridges, hills and 
valleys, at a varying altitude of from six to seven 
thousand feet 5 whilst the highest peak. Mount 
Dodabetta, loses itself in the clouds almost nine 
thousand feet above the sea-level. The public 
road to the summit commences at Seegoor, at the 
base of the " Hills," and passing awhile along the 
declivity, turns in zigzag route up the face of the 
mountain till it reaches a ravine ; then, turning 
aside, continues its upward course, and so on to 
the top, where the queenly Ootacamund, this 
beautiful English city of the mountains, sits 
enthroned six thousand feet above the level of the 
sea. Here, only four or five hours' ride from the 
intense heat of the torrid zone, are found invigor- 
ating breezes, mornings and evenings delightfully 
cool, and many of the trees, and plants of temper- 
ate latitudes. The vertical sun still manifests its 
power at noon-day, but in the shade the glass 
seldom rises as high as seventy in the warmest 
weather, and there is nearly always a refreshing 
breeze. In the winter months a thin coat of ice is 



Ootacamund, l07 

often found upon the ponds at early morning ; 
glass windows, in lieu of Venetian blinds, are a 
necessity ; and a bright wood-fire on the hearth, 
with andirons, tongs and bellows — articles un- 
heard of in Calcutta — are in great repute at 
Ootacamund, where one sleeps under blankets, and 
gladly resigns straw matting for woollen carpets 
and Turkish rugs. 

The English had been for years in possession of 
Coimbatore and Mysore, without a suspicion of 
the lovely, health-restoring retreat that lay upon 
the tops of these " Blue Mountains ; " and the 
discovery was at last the result of a fortunate acci- 
dent. Sometime about the year 1830, it having 
been ascertained that tobacco was smuggled from 
the district of Coimbatore to the western coast, 
the existence of a path across the mountains was 
almost an assured fact ; and two revenue officers 
set forth in pursuit of the smugglers, and suc- 
ceeded in tracking them by a steep and rugged 
path to the summit. Here, outspread before their 
astonished gaze, lay a land of fairy beauty whose 
invigorating atmosphere, fertile valleys, cultivated 
fields, undulating pastures and rich woodlands 
seemed to belong to a very Eden, compared with 



l08 Mountain Systems. 

the burning plains they had so recently left. A 
settlement was at once begun — the nucleus about 
which has been gathered the present beautiful 
town. This contains now about five hundred 
English residences, several excellent roads for car- 
riage drives, and numerous bridle-paths for eques- 
trian exercises ; while cool breezes and the invigor- 
ating atmosphere tempt the exiled Englishman to 
the almost-forgotten walking-feats of his native 
land. Some few European families reside here all 
the year round ; but to the majority, it is merely a 
summer resort. 

Another peak of the Neilgherries is Mount 
Kartery, six thousand feet high, which boasts of 
that great rarity in India, a lovely little waterfall. 
It is surrounded by picturesque scenery, and the 
hill-sides are nearly covered with coffee planta- 
tions. 

Mount Sispara is the summit of the pass to the 
western coast of India. Beyond its huge but- 
tresses of granite it is clothed in deep, dense, 
unbroken forest, the home only of wild elephants 
and buffaloes, ferocious tigers and leopards, jackals, 
monkeys, and hosts of wild and beautiful birds 



A Crerman Mission. Ill 

that rove here in pristine security, unawed by the 
encroachments of human foes. 

The Kaytee-House, four miles from Ootacamund, 
was built by Lord Elphinstone when Governor- 
general of India, as a place of elegant retirement, 
entirely away from European society. 

On his return to England, it passed into other 
hands ; and of late years has become the seat of 
the German Mission to the Badagas. The library 
and ball-room, despoiled of their costly belong- 
ings, have been converted into a neat and com- 
modious chapel; while other portions of the 
stately mansion furnish homes for the missionaries, 
school-rooms for natives, etc. 

Distant twelve miles from Kaytee Pass, and at 
an altitude of four thousand five hundred feet 
above the sea, is Canoor with a climate milder by 
several degrees than that of Ootacamund, and for 
this reason preferred by those who desire a change 
less sudden: 

These mountains perform a most important part 
in the physical economy of Southern India, con- 
densing into rain the watery vapors borne upon 
the two periodical winds, called " monsoons," from 
the seas of Arabia and Bengal ; and sending the 



112 Mountain Systems, 

genial streams to cool and refresh the thirsty 
plains. Yet still more important is their loving 
mission from the merciful Father of all, in provid- 
ing a health-retreat, so near at hand, and so easily 
available to the weary invalids v^ho, far from their 
native land, languish and faint beneath the sultry 
heat of India's fervid plains. 



CHAPTER III. 



POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 



SINCE August 2d, 1858, all the territories 
heretofore under the control of the British 
East India Company have been vested in the 
Crown, in the name of which all authority is exer- 
cised. The vast region known as British India, 
includes all the British colonies in India ; and the 
native states that are, to a greater or less degree, 
controlled by the English Government. It is 
divided into ten political districts, each under the 
jurisdiction of a Lieutenant-governor or Commis- 
sioner ; but subject to the authority vested in the 
Governor-general, who acts under the orders of the 
Secretary of State for India, and he also appoints 
the various Lieutenant-governors and Commis- 
sioners for the several Presidencies and Provinces. 

115 



116 Political Divisions. 

The Provinces of Hyderabad, Mysore, and Coorg, 
are under the direct administration of the Gover- 
nor-general. These cover an area of forty-seven 
thousand six hundred and sixty-one square miles, 
with a population of six million three hundred and 
eighty -nine thousand seven hundred and ninety- 
two. The others are governed by the following 
functionaries: Lieutenant-governor of Bengal, two 
hundred and thirty-nine thousand five hundred 
and ninety-one square miles, population thirty-five 
million nine hundred and seventy-five thousand 
two hundred and seventy four ; Lieutenant-gover- 
nor of Northwest Provinces, eighty-three thousand 
eight hundred and seventy-five square miles, popu- 
lation thirty million eighty- six thousand eight 
hundred and ninety-eight; Lieutenant-governor of 
the Punjaub, one hundred and two thousand and 
one square miles, population seventeen million 
five hundred and ninety-six thousand seven hun- 
dred and two; Chief-commissioner of Oudh, 
twenty-four thousand and sixty square miles, popu- 
lation eleven million two hundred and twenty 
thousand seven hundred and forty-seven; Chief- 
commissioner of Central Provinces, eighty-four 
thousand one hundred and sixty-two square miles. 



Area and Population, 117 

population seven million nine hundred and eighty- 
five thousand four hundred and eleven ; Chief- 
commissioner of British Burmah, ninety-eight 
thousand eight hundred and eighty -nine square 
miles, population two million four hundred and 
sixty-three thousand four hundred and eighty-four ; 
Governor of Madras, one hundred and forty-one 
thousand seven hundred and forty-six square 
miles, population twenty-six million five hundred 
and thirty-nine thousand and fifty-two ; Governor 
of Bombay, eighty-seven thousand six hundred 
and thirty-nine square miles, population eleven 
million ninety-three thousand five hundred and 
twelve ; Commissioner of Scinde, fifty-four thous- 
and four hundred and three square miles, popula- 
tion one million seven hundred and ninety-five 
thousand five hundred and ninety-four; making the 
total of British possessions in India and Burmah 
nine hundred and sixty-three thousand nine hun- 
dred and twenty-nine square miles, population 
one hundred and fifty-one million one hundred and 
forty-six thousand four hundred and twenty-six ; 
which, with the sixty or seventy native states 
under the protection of Great Britain, will make 
an area for all India of not less than one million 



118 Political Divisions, 

two hundred thousand square miles, with a total 
population of fully one hundred and seventy-five 
millions. 

Of all these states and provinces the three Pres- 
idencies of Bengal, Madras and Bombay are best 
known to Europeans, and really possess most in- 
terest to the English-reading public. Bengal, the 
largest of the three settled by the English, is 
divided into regulation and non-regulation districts. 
The regulation districts extend over the low, fer- 
tile, densely-populated basin of the Ganges, and 
are subject- to a strict and systematic official admin- 
istration. They include Bengal proper, the native 
province of Behar, and the maritime districts of 
Orissa. The wilder out-lying countries are com- 
prised in the non-regulation districts ; which con- 
sist of the hill region of Orissa, the territory south 
of Behar, called the Southwest Frontier, and the 
great country of Assam, through which flow the 
Brahmapootra and its tributaries. Here civiliza- 
tion is far less advanced than in the regulation 
districts, and the government is comparatively in- 
formal. The climate of Bengal is extremely warm, 
and, to Europeans, unhealthy unless they, at the 
occurrence of each hot season, resort to some of 



Native Products, 119 

the Sanitariums among the hills. The soil is allu- 
vial and consists of a rich black mould resting 
upon a sandy clay. There is no substance so 
coarse as gravel to be found in the great delta, nor 
within four hundred miles of the coast. The val- 
ley of the Ganges is noted for its fertility ; and the 
productive power of its lands is renewed, like 
those of Egypt, without expense to the cultivator, 
by the annual river deposits. The methods of 
agriculture are extremely primitive, the natives 
knowing almost nothing of husbandry, and their 
implements being of the very simplest and rudest 
sort. Each ryot or native cultivator of the soil, 
occupies usually about six acres of land, and sel- 
dom more than twenty-four. Rice is the leading 
cereal, and an important article of export. Wheat, 
barley, millet, and maize are also raised on the 
higher lands, with cotton, sugar, opium, indigo 
and tobacco. The indigo produced in Bengal 
alone, amounts to five-sixths of the entire quantity 
made in the world. The growth of coffee has 
been successfully introduced of late years, espec- 
ially in Assam, where large tracts are devoted to 
the cultivation of tea and coffee. The poppy is 
giown chiefly in Behar, the opium being manu- 



120 Political Divisions, 

factured at Patna, and known in commerce as 
Patna opium. No one is permitted to engage in 
the opium business except oil account of the 
government, which makes advances to the cultiva- 
tors, and purchases the whole crop from them at 
an established price — usually at less than one 
dollar per pound — and sells it for exportation 
from Calcutta to China, at an enormous profit. 
The chief sources of revenue to the government 
are from the land-tax and the opium monopoly. 
The commerce of Bengal is chiefly with Great 
Britain ; and the exports consist of cotton, rice, 
indigo, silk and saltpetre. Railways, which are 
rapidly multiplying, have greatly facilitated inter- 
nal trade, since their introduction in 1857. In 
1859 there w^ere, in the whole of Bengal, only 
one hundred and forty-two miles of railway open 
to the public, and there are now about two thous- 
and miles. The East India line, the grand trunk 
route to Delhi and the highlands of Northern 
India, traverses the valley of the Ganges from 
Calcutta upward. Calcutta, the seat of govern- 
ment of the Anglo-Indian Empire, has a popula- 
tion of about one million. The cities of Bengal 
next in rank, are Patna, Moorshedabad, Dacca, 



The JFJast India Oonfpany. 123 

and Burdwan. The population of the Bengal 
District is composed mainly of native Hindus, and 
the Mohammedan descendants of the Moguls, the 
former being as four to one of the latter. 

It was the latter part of the seventeenth centur}^, 
when the English East India Company estab- 
lished their first trading factories in Bengal, then 
governed by a Viceroy of the Mogul Emperor of 
Hindustan. Their settlements were small, and 
even this limited territory they held as tenants 
under native rulers. In 1746, the war between 
England and France extended to Southern India, 
whence, for the succeeding ten years, England was 
constantly making accessions of valuable territory, 
as well as increasing her military force ; so that 
when, in 1756, troubles with the native rulers arose 
the English were prepared to cope with their 
Indian foes. In the famous battle of Plassey, that 
occurred on June 23, 1757, Lord Clive defeated 
the Nawaub of Nazim, with great loss, compelling 
the notorious Nawaub, who was no other than the 
cruel Saraj-al-Dowlah, of "Black Hole " notoriety, 
to fly from the field. 

This victory established the ascendency of the 
English in India, giving them a prestige that re- 



124' Political Divisions. 

mains to the present day. This was the tide that, 
taken at the flood, led to fortune for the English. 
How strangely the French have missed their 
opportunity in India again and again. Chander- 
nagore, beautifully situated on the right bank of 
the Hooghly, only a few miles from Calcutta, in 
1740, eclipsed that city, and governed the trade of 
Bengal. To-day it is a miserable village, its streets 
invaded by water and by rank weeds, its bazaars 
without trade, and its harbor destitute of shipping 
— a reproach to a great nation, and a grief to all 
who venerate la belle France ! A last opportunity 
of retrieving the fortunes of the desolated city 
occurred about twenty-five years ago, when the 
Delhi railway was being laid out, and it was pro- 
posed to have it pass through Chandernagore, and 
to convert the ancient French town into a sort of 
out-post of the Indian capital. Vacillation and need- 
less delays thwarted the plan ; and the opportunity 
was lost, not to return, at least in this generation. 
The river Hooghly is one of the many streams 
by Avhich the Ganges empties its waters into the 
Ba}^ of Bengal, and is esteemed the most sacred of 
its mouths. Just where the Ganges meets the sea, 
is the island of Sangor — Gunga-Sagor the Indians 



The Island of Sangor. 125 

call it ; and it is one of tlie most famous of all the 
islands on the coast — famous for the human sacri- 
fices that used to be there offered to the goddess 
Gunga. But these are now prevented by the 
action of the British Government, Avho, during the 
annual festival, keep soldiers on guard to prevent 
the perpetuation of such - cruelties. Before reach- 
ing Sangor, vessels bound for Calcutta are boarded 
by pilots, v^ho carefully guide the vessels by an un- 
seen channel, through hidden shoals, toward the 
mouth of the river, yet at a distance. These 
shoals of sand and mud, known as the " Sand- 
heads," and caused by the constant accumulations 
of sand at the mouth, make the passage replete 
with danger, which is increased by the total 
absence of landmarks. But an efficient pilot ser- 
vice, well sustained by the English Government, 
prevents the occurrence of frequent accidents. 
Calcutta lies a hundred miles from the mouth, and 
between the city and the island of Sangor is a 
low, jungly tract of land, intersected by creeks and 
streams, and known as the " Sunderbunds." This 
was once inhabited and cultivated by a rural popu- 
lation, but was desolated, first by wars, and later 
by the incursions of the river, till now it is only 



126 Political Divisions* 

the home of wild beasts, and the abode of noxious 
reptiles. 

When the " Snnderbunds '' and floating lights 
have been passed, the shores grow perceptibly 
nearer, allowing both banks to be seen, but the 
river is still more than two miles wide, and rolls 
on with a wonderful volume and swiftness toward 
the sea, a turbid yellow current, loaded with allu- 
vial matter from the uplands. It has been said, 
that w^ere two thousand ships, each bearing fifteen 
hundred tons of soil, to sail down every da}" in the 
year, they could not carry as much solid matter 
as is borne to the ocean in a single day by the 
Ganges. The stream still narrowing, objects of 
interest begin to multiply. The banks are no 
longer jungly wastes, but scattered cottages, em- 
bowered in palms, tamarinds, and other tropical 
growth, with fishing villages here and there, give 
life and beaut}- to the scene. The exquisite green- 
ness of the rice-fields, the waving luxuriance of the 
sugar-cane, and all the graceful beauty of vegeta- 
ble life, so characteristic of " the lands of the 
Sun," lend their charm to the view; and pres- 
ently Gloucester, with its European residences, 
comes in sight, and the familiar sounds of com- 



Cheringhee. 127 

merce and the hum of mPtchinery fall on the ear. 
A hundred miles above the island of Sangor, a 
bend in the river, now but a mile wide, opens to 
view " Garden Reach," a suburb of the great 
" City of Palaces," with its superb array of villas 
and country-seats, in which luxury and refinement 
are everywhere displayed, combined with all the 
wondrous floral wealth of that clime. As one ap- 
proaches the city, at every step are seen splendid 
European mansions adorned with oriental grandeur, 
and surrounded by smooth lawns very English in 
look, but dotted with clumps of the brightest and 
gayest of tropical flowers ; native hudgerows and 
dingies ply on the smooth waters, and English steam- 
boats puff up and down, bearing crowds of passen- 
gers, of such diversified features, complexion and 
attire, as fairly to bewilder the unaccustomed eye. 
A little farther advance brings into view the Fort 
and government buildings of the Cheringhee 
suburb ; lofty chimneys of gas-works and factories 
rise before the eye, and the increasing din of city 
life, the hum of voices and the throng of vehicles, 
proclaim the presence of a great and busy city. 
Formerly, numerous corpses were to be seen 
floating down the stream, followed by birds of 



128 Political Divisions. 

prey; but this gliastly and unwholesome sight is 
no longer permitted by the English authorities, 
who forbid the throwing of bodies into the stream, 
and the laying of the sick upon its banks, within 
the precincts of the city. 

On the right bank of the river, a short distance 
above the city, are the magnificent Botanical 
Gardens, the gift of the famous Hooker to the 
city of Calcutta. This is believed to be the 
largest and finest botanical collection in existence, 
embracing the most wonderful varieties from all 
quarters of the world ; and all planted, not in 
conservatories, under glass covers, but in the open 
air, under the gorgeous sunlight of that unchanging 
clime. Among the most remarkable specimens, 
are a Baobab of Senegal, the trunk of which is 
thirty feet in circumference ; and an Indian Banian 
which, with its numerous branches, is sufficient to 
shelter a thousand people. 

The city of Calcutta stretches along the eastern 
bank of the Hooghly, or Bagirathy, as it is called 
by the natives, for a distance of six miles above 
the fort ; a great, wealth}^, prosperous city, that 
owes its greatness entirely to the supremacy and 
enterprise of the English. When it was granted 



Calcutta. 129 

to them in 1717, it consisted of three small 
villages of mud-huts, called Govindpore ; and in 
1756 even these Avretched grants were withdrawn, 
and the English were expelled from Bengal by its 
nizam ; now it is a " city of palaces," of which the 
despised English are the lords paramount ; and 
scores of the descendants of such petty tyrants as 
Suraj-al-Dowlah, are glad to eat the bread from 
the coffers of the English treasury. Fort William, 
the most celebrated and extensive foreign fortress 
in India, was begun in 1757, after the battle of 
Plassey, and is deemed almost impregnable. The 
works are low and octagonal in outline, three sides 
facing the Hooghly. The citadel mounts six 
hundred and nineteen guns ; and a garrison of one 
thousand troops are needed to defend it. The 
Government House, the palace of the Governor- 
general or Viceroy, is a superb structure of mas- 
sive proportions, consisting of a large central 
building surrounded by four extensive wings and 
crowned hj a magnificent dome. This occupies a 
conspicuous position in the esplanades fronting a 
park called Eden Gardens ; and near by are the 
town hall, post-of&ce, and other government 
buildings, a great many churches belonging to 



180 Political Divisions, 

different nations and creeds, large costly stores, 
and thousands of elegant private residences. The 
latter are two storied with stnccoed fronts and 
tall columns, spacious verandahs and close-fittiDg 
Venetian blinds, and each occupies a separate 
enclosure surrounded by a substantial wall, which 
gives an air of grandeur and wealth. The style of 
living is suited to the dwelling, combining the 
luxuries of the East witli the imported comforts 
and elegancies of the West. The native portion 
of the city, which is entirely distinct from the 
Cheringhee or European quarter, consists of a dense 
network of narrow, dirt}- streets, lined with houses 
of small and mean appearance. Some of the 
native residences are large and showy ; but the 
majority of these people live in mud-huts, or in little 
shanties formed of bamboo poles with coarse mats 
tied over them. The bazaars are numerous and 
extensive, consisting of whole long lines of shops 
swarming with tradespeople, buyers and sellers, 
and makers of various wares, who fill the shops, 
and crowd every avenue, some exchanging pleas- 
ant words, others clamoring for trade, and a few 
uttering coarse jests or chaffing each other in 
passing; but scarcely ever a profane w^ord is spoken. 




^^^^>m<^''^^ 



The Black Hole. 183 

Drunkenness and profanity, when found among 
the Hindus at all, are imported vices, acquired by 
intercourse with Christian nations, and not indig- 
enous to the soil. At these little cell-like bazaar 
shops may be purchased every conceivable variety 
of wares, native and foreign, almost every lan- 
guage is heard, and every style of features, com- 
plexion and attire may be studied. A little world 
of itself is this great busy city, full of life and 
beauty and activity, that makes one grow stronger, 
and more hopeful of his race as he watches the 
energy and buoyancy, and all the concentrated life 
of a Calcutta bazaar. 

One point of interest must not be omitted. On 
the site where the post-office now stands, was 
once the memorable " Black Hole " — a small close 
dungeon in the old fort — - the scene of that terrible 
catastrophe that has made the name of Suraj-al- 
Dowlah infamous wherever our language is spoken. 
When Calcutta, on the 20th of June, 1756, was 
captured by Suraj, the British garrison, consisting 
of one hundred and forty-six men, under the 
command of Mr. Holwell, were locked up for the 
night in a strongly-barred room, only eighteen 
feet square. The weather was intensely hot ; and 



134 Political Divisions. 

conflagrations raging in different parts of the fort, 
rendered the atmosphere unusually oppressive. 
The only window to the little room opened 
toward the west, whence, under the best circum- 
stances, but little air could enter, and this was 
further obstructed by a projecting roof outside, 
and thick iron bars within. In a short time the 
sufferings of the poor prisoners became unendura- 
ble ; everj^ effort was made, and immense bribes 
offered to touch the hearts of their jailers ; but in 
vain, and when morning came, one hundred and 
twenty-three had died of thirst and foul, stifling 
air, some perhaps trampled to death in the dark- 
ness by their tortured comrades. Only twenty- 
three of the little company came out alive, and 
were then released by their inhuman jailers. An 
obelisk fifty feet high was afterwards erected near 
the spot in memory of the Adctims of this terri- 
ble tragedy. 

On the eastern coast line of India, bordering on 
the Bay of Bengal, is the Presidency of Madras 
— a long, narrow slip of territory, including 
within its bounds the states of Arcot, Panjore, 
Vizianagram, and Cochin. The ancient province 
of British India, formerly known as the Carnatic, 



The Oarnatic. 137 

extending from Cape Comorin to 16^ north latitude, 
with an average breadth of about ninety miles, was 
almost synonjanous with this Presidency, and 
included all the chief cities, i. e , Madras, Pondi- 
cherry, Arcot, Madura, Tanjore, Trichinopoly, 
Nellore, and Vellore. The Carnatic formed origi- 
nally the Hindu kingdom of Carnata, and after 
various changes, was finally included in the domin- 
ions of the nabob of Arcot ; then the contentioiis 
arising from a disputed possession brought the 
French and English into a collision, that ended in 
the transfer of the Carnatic to the East India 
Company, in 1801, the reigning nabob, Azim-al- 
Omrah, receiving a pension equal to one-fifth of 
the revenue ; and his chief officials being provided 
for. The last titular nabob died in 1855, without 
heirs, and the Carnatic has since been included in 
the Presidency of Madras. The Eastern Ghauts 
divide the Presidency of Madras into two parts, the 
mountains running parallel with the coast, causing 
a great difference in climate between the two sec- 
tions. The seaboard, in dry weather, is the hottest 
part of India, the thermometer sometimes reaching 
130° in the shade ; while the table-lands' are 
delightfully cool and salubrious. At Bangalore, 



138 Political Divisions. 

which belongs to the Mysore country, included in 
the Carnatic, the climate is sufficiently temperate 
for the cultivation of grains,. vegetables and fruits, 
that could not endure the heat of the plains — 
wheat, strawberries, and potatoes being readily 
produced. Bangaloi'e has connected with it many 
associations of historic interest. While the 
French and English were lighting in the Carnatic, 
Hyder Ali had risen from a subordinate position to 
the command of the army of Mj^sore ; and by 
subjugating the Nairs of Malabar, and taking pos- 
session of several small tracts of land in Southern 
India, he had established a principality for him- 
self. While at the head of the Mysorean army, 
Hyder had received from his sovereign the 
jaghire or fief of Bangalore, from which to sup- 
port himself while taking care of his master's 
forces. This able and unscrupulous man, who 
soon dethroned his sovereign to establish a dynasty 
of his own, strongly fortified Bangalore, and made 
it one of his chief strongholds. The fort is in 
the shape of an oval, about a mile in circumference, 
and surrounded by a deep ditch. By both Hyder 
and his son Tippoo, it was deemed almost impreg- 
nable, but did not prove strong enough to hold 



Bangalore, 139 

out against the cannonade of British artillerists ; 
and in 1791, being stormed by the English troops, 
under Lord Cornwallis, it was carried with terrible 
slaughter. It has since been held by the English, 
and is now the principal health-station for the 
army belonging to the Madras Presidency, espec- 
ially adapted to this purpose by the salubrious cli- 
mate and accessible position. English regiments, 
after being quartered for several years in Madras, 
Tanjore, Trichinopoly or other stations on the 
plains, are transferred to Bangalore, and after 
remaining there a year or two, give place to others, 
needing a similar change. The barracks at Banga- 
lore are ample for the accommodation of many 
regiments of cavalry and infantry ; and there are 
pretty bungalows, surrounded by gardens, as 
quarters for the officers. On the spacious parade- 
ground the troops are daily exercised, and their 
presence greatly enlivens the pretty town in its 
serial elevation of three thousand feet above the 
sea. The town of Bangalore is quite distinct 
from the fort, and contains about a hundred 
thousand inhabitants, some sixty thousand of 
whom are Canarese, and live within the mud- 
walls of the town, and about forty thousand are 



140 Political Divisions. 

Tamil people, living in a separate quarter, and 
deriving their support mainly from the army. A 
good road over a hilly country leads westward to 
Seringapatam, which likewise is rife with scenes 
that suggest to the student of Indian history 
thoughts of armed hosts and bloody encounters 
between Mussulman and British troops, of victory 
and defeat, with all their train of horrors, engulf- 
ing the innocent with the guilty, and flooding the 
land with desolation and ruin. After the capture 
of Bangalore, in 1791, Lord Cornwallis advanced 
upon Seringapatam, and after capturing the hill- 
forts between the two cities, he attacked Tippoo 
Sahib by night, defeating him, with terrible 
loss. Compelled to retire within his stronghold, 
and threatened by a further advance of the Eng- 
lish, the haughty Sultan was compelled to make 
peace, with the surrender of half his territory. 
But war was recommenced in 1799, and in May 
an English force looked down from the neighbor- 
ing heights on the water-girt fortress of Seringa- 
patam. The English forces were led by General 
Baird, who had himself been a prisoner within 
the dungeons of " The city of Sri-Bunga ; " and 
here the blood-thirsty Tippoo met his fate. Sally- 



Death of Tippoo Sahih 141 

ing out, with his usual bravery, to meet the victors, 
when the place had been carried by storm, Tippoo 
fell, pierced by two musket balls. An English 
soldier not knowing who he was, and desirous to 
possess himself of the gleaming jewels that sur- 
rounded the Sultan's waist, attempted to unclasp 
the girdle ; but the prince still held his sword in 
his stiffening hand, and with it, he struck a blow, 
his last, that severely wounded the soldier. The 
latter, frenzied witli pain and indignation shot the 
dying man through the head, and thus perished 
one of the greatest tyrants that ever lived. His 
very name is synonjaiious with " tiger ; " and he 
is reported to have said, that he would "rather, 
live two days as a tiger, than a hundred days as a 
slieep." Possessed of a cruel, rapacious spirit, he 
seems to have delighted in scenes of blood, and to 
have found his supreme happiness in pursuing to 
the death Christian and Pagan, Anglo-Saxon and 
native Indian. Two magnificent tombs in the 
beautiful Lai Bag\ " Red Garden," mark the last 
resting-place of Hyder Ali and his son Tippoo 
Sahib — names spoken only with abhorence, even 
by their own people, whom they alienated by injus- 
tice and cruelty. 



142 Political Divisions. 

The state of Cochin covers an area of one thous- 
and three hundred and sixty square miles, with a 
population of six hundred thousand. It is in a 
subsidiary alliance Avith the British Government, 
and pays a tribute of f 100,000 a year. The reign- 
ing Rajah is of the Ks-cbatrya caste, and is 
descended from a Viceroy of the Chola Kings, 
who ruled in the ninth century. He does not 
speak English ; but is a thorough Sanscrit scholar, 
and well acquainted with the native literature. 

Arcot, as a state, has no longer any real existence, 
though once of the greatest importance. The 
present representatives of the former Nawabs, 
reside in the cit}^ of Madras, fallen from their 
high estate, in regard to power and wealth, but 
highly exalted by their virtues and intellectual 
graces in the esteem of both natives and Euro- 
peans. A pamphlet was published a few years 
ago in Madras, setting fortli their claims to con- 
sideration, and giving, besides their genealogy, 
such matters as notes from former governors ask- 
ing them to breakfast, or acknowledging a supply 
of dishes from their table. Tiie father of the 
present Prince, sent to Queen Victoria, in 1860, a 
poem written by himself, congratulating Her 



Travaniiore. 143 

Majesty on the accession of her new sovereignty 
as " Empress of India ; " and closing with the 
words : " Through the favor of the Most Holy 
Jesus Christ, may this assumption of rule prove 
auspicious to you ; and may your dominions last 
till the resurrection." 

The Rajah of Travancore, despite his Observatory 
and his attainments in science, is a Hindu of the 
Hindus, and of the strictest sect regarding all 
national observances. 

His fair domain is said to be one of the few 
states that have always been under Hindu rule, 
and governed by Hindu laws ; but the laws 
framed in 1490 were remodelled in 1811. The 
succession is in the female line, that is, the Rajah 
is succeeded by the %on of his daughter. Various 
conjectures have arisen as to the cause of so 
strange a law, of which, however, very little is 
really known ; for these Tamharettes^ or Heredi- 
tary Queens of Travancore are, to us at least, 
" Purdah women " in the fullest sense, of whom 
the bare mention is about all that has come down 
to us ; except that single romance of the young 
Englishman with whom the queen " fell in love," 
and who, declining to marry her, she sent away 



144 Political Divisions. 

in 1685, loaded with costly gifts; and even this 
solitary story is half unwritten, for as to whence 
the hero came, why he so persistently declined 
this royal alliance, how he left, and whither he 
went, we have no information Orme, the histo- 
rian of British India, is reported to have been 
born in Anjenga, farther north on this coast ; as 
Avas also Mrs. Elizabeth Draper, Sterne's " Eliza." 
The Maharajahs of Vizianagram claim descent 
from the Ranas of Oodeypore, the most illustrious 
Rajput family in India, whose ancestors conquered 
Oudh, at a very remote period, and one of whose 
more recent progenitors, at the modest date A. D. 
519, conquered more than two-thirds of the 
present Madras Presidency, and established a 
dynasty that reigned over the land for nine 
hundred and twenty years. A chief of Viziana- 
gram built the present fort in 1712, and enjoyed 
great power under Aurungzebe. In 1756, when 
M. Bussy moved into the Circars, the Rajah joined 
him with ten thousand men. There were five of 
these Circars, that together constituted an old 
division of the Presidency of Madras, but have, of 
late years, been distributed among the British 
districts of Guntoor, Masulipatan, and others. 



Madras, 145 

After various successes and disasters the French 
were driven out, and overtures were made to tlie. 
English, who, as usual, were quite willing to step 
into the possession of so goodly a land. In Sep- 
tember, 1758, Lord Clive sent Colonel Ford with 
a considerable force to aid the chief in a general 
buccaneering expedition, in which it was stipulated 
that the plunder should be equally divided, and 
that conquered countries should be delivered to 
the Rajah, who was to collect the revenues, and 
pay fifty thousand rupees a month towards the 
expenses of the troops. The following year, the 
chief died without issue, and one of his wives 
"performed suttee." Then followed trouble about 
the succession, and the land was torn by civil dis- 
cord ; but in 1765 the Emperor Shah Alum bestowed 
four of these Circars upon the British East India 
Company, as a free gift; and Guntoor, the fifth, 
came into possession of the Company in 1788. 
They have since been held by the English, as con- 
stituent portions of the Presidency of Madras. 

Cananore, a seaport town in the province of 
Malabar, is a town of great antiquity. It was 
taken in 1501 by the Portuguese, who fortified it, 
but were expelled by the Dutch in 1664. The 



146 Political Divisions. 

Dutch sold it to a native Mohammedan family, the 
head of which, nnder the title of Beebee, professed 
absolute authority over it, with a small adjacent 
territory and the Laccadive Islands, till 1791, 
when it became tributary to the English. 

They have strengthened the fort and provided 
accommodations for three or four regiments of 
soldiers, and it is now the principal military 
station in the province of Malabar. 

Fifteen miles from Arcot is Vellore, a well- 
fortified town, that was, for centuries, a stronghold 
of the chieftains of Southern India. The ditch 
that encircles the fort is filled with water from 
the Palar River, and infested with swarms of 
alligators, that serve as an invincible guard, none 
daring to venture through the moat, lest these 
scaly monsters should enfold them in too loving 
an embrace. Vellore is famous for a fearful 
tragedy enacted there in the year 1806. The 
sons of Tippoo had been kept, after the fall of 
their father's kingdom, in a sort of easy confine- 
ment within this fort. The Mohammedans who, 
with the overthrow of Tippoo's dynasty, lost their 
own power and influence, felt aggrieved by the 
imprisonment of the princes, and when to thi§ 




THE PALACE OF THE SETHS, AJMERE. 



A Seapoy Butchery, 149 

source of trouble was added another, in respect to 
some new regulations of the dress of Seapoy 
soldiers, a general insurrection of the Seapoj^s 
against the English troops was forthwith inaugu- 
rated. In the still hour of the night, two battal- 
ions of native soldiers surrounded the barracks of 
the English, and poured in upon the sleeping 
soldiers a plentiful discharge of musketry through 
every door and window. Simultaneously with 
this movement, the sentries, guard, and inmates 
of the hospital were cruelly assassinated ; the 
armed Seapoys rushing in upon their defenceless 
victims, shooting down every one who attempted 
to escape, and committing all manner of atrocities, 
till, as they supposed, not one of the garrison was 
left. But one fugitive had in some way eluded 
their vigilance, and making all speed to Arcot, 
told the fearful tale of the butchery of his com- 
rades. No time was lost in dispatching a regi- 
ment of British dragoons to the scene of the 
frightful massacre, who, eager to avenge the mur- 
der of their compatriots, charged through the 
unguarded gates of the fort, and cut down, with- 
out mercy, the mutineers, who had been so 
engrossed with their deeds of blood and rapine as 



150 Political Divisions. 

to have neglected all means of defence. Six 
hundred were thus slam on the spot, and two 
hundred more dragged from the concealments to 
which they had fled and shot without mercy. 
The sons of Tippoo were shortly after removed to 
Calcutta, and placed in durance, at a distance from 
their father's former rule and friends, where their 
presence was less likely to incite revolt. 

The city of Madras, the capital of the Presi- 
denc}^ lies upon the eastern coast, thirteen degrees 
north of the equator. It stretches for several 
miles along the shore of the Bay of Bengal, upon 
a flat, sandy plain, raised but a few feet above the 
level of the sea. The old walled city is known as 
the " Black Town," from its being densely popu- 
lated by Hindus. On the southern side, the large, 
strong fort of St. George is built into the wall, 
and gives a very commanding appearance from the 
sea-board. Around this central town and fort is 
the esplanade — an unoccupied, beautifully level 
space, seven hundred yards wide, and stretching 
entirely around the fort. This esplanade prevents 
the approach of an enemy under cover. The 
rapidly increasing population of this portion of 
the city, finding no room within the walls, has 



Fou7iding Madras. 151 

spread in a continuous semi-circle of suburbs 
beyond the esplanade and around the old town. 
The residences of the English are without the 
city, and almost entirely in the district south of 
the fort. It was in the year 1639, just two Jiun- 
dred and forty years ago, that the Rajah of 
Chandgherr}^, a petty prince of the interior, 
granted to a company of English merchants a 
spot of ground upon which to build a fort, and 
factories. This was Madras, then only a small 
village inhabited by a few fishermen and their 
families ; and this was the nucleus about which 
has gathered, with the lapse of years, the present 
city of more than eight hundred thousand inhabi- 
tants — tlie great and growing metropolis of the 
British possessions in Southern India. The 
proud native princes who once held court here, 
and looked with contempt upon the handful of 
foreign merchants who had sought their shores for 
purposes of trade, have passed away and been for- 
gotten, and their descendants live upon pensions 
granted them by the English rulers of the domains 
of their ancestors ; while the little English coloin^, 
with constantly increasing numbers, and wealth, 
and influence, have turned their fort into a walled 



152 Politieal Divisions, 

town, the centre of widely-extended possessions, 
and are able to dispense protection and favor, 
where once they sought it. 

Mount Road is the favorite evening drive of the 
foreign residents of Madras. It leads from the 
city to Mount St. Thome, the reputed burial- 
place of the Apostle Thomas, and a holy place of 
the Roman Catholics of India. It is an excellent 
road, constructed at great expense by the British 
Government, and leads past many objects of 
interest. The old fort, with its historic memories, 
where in the arsenal are stored the keys of 
Pondicherry and Carnatic fortresses, cannon that 
belonged to some of Hyder's batteries, the arms of 
Tippoo and famous chiefs and poligars of the 
ancient time — what echoes of the past they waken ! 
A little farther on, is the colossal equestrian statue 
of Sir Thomas Munro, a former very distinguished 
governor of Madras. It is a bronze figure upon a 
lofty pedestal of stone, and an admirable work of 
art. After crossing a bridge over the Coom — a 
little river that passes through the city — the 
Government House comes in view ; a large, half- 
Oriental, half-European palace, with verandahs 
and Venetian blinds protecting each story from 



The G-overnment House, 153 

the glaring sun of this tropical clime, and sur- 
rounded bj a spacious park, where are herds of 
beautiful, gentle antelopes grazing beneath the 
trees. This is one of the large handsome establish- 
ments provided for the governor of Madras. It 
contains elegant reception-rooms, the great ban- 
queting-hall where the Prince of Wales was 
entertained in that State Banquet of fifty covers, 
to which the chief personages of the city and 
Presidency of Madras were invited, and given by 
the Duke of Buckingham in honor of the Prince's 
visit ; elegant library and private sitting-rooms, 
boudoirs, etc., all fitted in exquisite style, but 
very different from dwellings of the same grade 
in England or America. The rooms, as in nearly 
all Anglo-Indian residences, are larger, the ceilings 
higher, the windows broader and more numerous, 
and all shaded by Venetian blinds. Rich lace 
hangings take the place of silk ; there is neither 
mantle nor furnace-register, not even a chimney to 
the house, and in every room there are great 
hand-punkahs, that are kept in constant motion to 
cool the heated atmosphere by their lateral sway- 
ing to and fro. Then there are at the Govern- 
ment House in Madras, and in all the other 



154 Political Divisions, 

Indian capitals where the English have either a 
Governor or a " Resident," sentries at the gates 
and the doors, and liveried servants everywhere, 
in great numbers, with costumes specially adapted 
to the country — a sort of compromise between 
India and England ; tasteful in many respects, but 
startling nevertheless to unaccustomed eyes. Take 
as an example the liveries of the Prince of Wales' 
personal attendants at Bombay. Mr. Russell says : 

" Besides the Governor's servants in their fine 
turbans and robes, there were in attendance a 
small battalion of those engaged for the Prince, 
in new liveries of the native fashion — a flat, 
white head-dress, with a broad band of gold lace 
running diagonally from the scarlet top to the 
side, scarlet surcoats buttoned to the throat, richly 
embroidered with gold lace, and the Prince's 
plumes in silver on the breast, laced on the sleeves, 
edged with gold lace, and confined by rich cum- 
mer-bunds ; but — ' desinit in piscem ' * — the glit- 
tering personages, so fine above, w^ore thin white 
trousers, and went barefooted." 

After Government House is passed, then comes 
the stores of jewellers, silk-mercers, milliners, con- 
fectioners, and many other tradesmen. They are 

*This is a reference to the words of Horace, in allusion to incongruity, or bad 
taste, Desinit in piscetn utulier forniosa siiperna. A woman beautiful above, 
ends in the tail of a fish. 




COCOANUT TREES. 



Street Sights in Madras. 157 

usually large, handsome establishments, standing 
in large " compounds," and are kept either by 
Englishmen or Eurasians, (mixed breeds of Eng- 
lish and Indian parentage) ; but men always. 
Sales-z^owen are not in vogue in the East, except 
among the lower class of native dealers in the 
bazaars, and even there they are not numerous. The 
dwellings of European residents are still farther 
out. The}^ are, for the most part, superb mansions, 
stuccoed and pillared in elegant style, combining 
the height and grandeur of the best class of Eng- 
lish residences, with the porticos, terraces, and 
Venetians of the Orient ; a fair index of Anglo- 
Indian life, combining the luxuries of two hemi- 
spheres, and grafting the furniture, equipage, dress, 
table-fashions, meats and wines of Europe upon 
the stock of Indian ease, sensuousness, and intense 
love of the beautiful in nature and art. 

All along the streets, in both the old and new 
towns, strange sights, costumes and incidents are 
everywhere visible. Women and girls with huge 
baskets gather ordure to be mixed with straw, and 
dried in round balls for fuel. Grass-cutters are 
coming in from the country, each with a bundle of 
grass on his head, a day^s supply for the one horse 



158 Political Divisions. 

each man or woman tends. Dliobies (washer-m6?^), 
with enormous bundles of clothes that they are 
taking to some of the numerous tanks on the sub'- 
urbs to wash hj beating them against the rocks, 
plod heavily along, almost reeling beneath their 
ponderous loads. A couple of peons or native 
policeman, tall, fine-looking men in red turbans and 
wide, Moorish pantaloons, walk by with stately 
step, and keen, watchful eyes, as if ever on the 
alert. Countrymen and travellers from other 
towns pass loiteringly along gazing at every new 
sight, and Coolies with great boxes on their heads, 
or three in company, pulling an awkward, lumber- 
ing, two-wheeled cart, piled with fruits and provis- 
ions, stop to deliver parcels at the various houses 
on the road. But these are not the only vehicles 
to be seen on the mountain road. At early morn- 
ing, before the sun is up, nearly all Europeans 
go out to inhale the pleasant morning breeze ; and 
in the evening, just before dark, everybody goes 
out for a drive along the esplanade or mountain 
road. English officers of rank roll along in their 
phaetons, with liveried coachman and footman, and 
a syce (groom) running beside each horse. Ladies, 
in full dress, recline among silken cushions in their 



The l^Jnglish in Madras, 159 

light pony palanquins, while a syce rnns by the 
pony's head, with an arm thrown over his neck, 
and a footman runs before crying out to pedes- 
trians to clear the way. Others, perhaps a lady 
and gentleman, or a family of parents and children, 
fair-haired, blue-eyed English children, looking 
very lovely among the crowd of swarthy natives, 
will be taking their airing in an elegant silver- 
mounted barouche behind a pair of superb Eng- 
lish " trotters," the entire turnout a genuine im- 
portation, unmistakably English in its substantial 
make, strikingly in contrast with the lighter 
palanquins and small ponies generally seen in 
Indian cities. Young men, clerks, and people of 
modest pretensions are driven in buggies and 
pony palanquins, but the groom does not sit by his 
master's side, nor at all, but runs at the horse's 
head, holding on to the animal's mane. Occasion- 
ally a strange-looking vehicle with a pyramidal 
top, drawn by a pair of bullocks, and known as a 
" bandy " passes in the crowd, its Hindu occupant 
seated a la oriental upon a cushion laid flat on the 
floor, while the driver, sitting at his master's feet, 
urges on the bullocks by cries and kicks, varied 
by an occasional vigorous twist of the animals' 



160 Political Divisions, 

tails. Other bandies of more stylish construction 
with gilded domes and silken curtains, and drawn 
by pairs of pure white oxen, contain Hindu 
ladies, only their bright eyes or jewelled noses vis- 
ible from behind their silken screens, as they peer 
wistfully out to catch a glimpse of the active 
world, of which they know so little. There are 
tiny little vehicles drawn by stunted red bullocks, 
looking almost as diminutive as Newfoundland 
dogs ; and perhaps only a few steps off a huge 
elephant, loaded with camp equipage, or carrying a 
howdah, in which a couple of sailors are enjoying 
the novelty of their first elephant ride, as the huge 
animal brings down his ponderous feet with a jolt, 
that to our sailors is far more uneasy than their 
ship's motions during a furious " nor' wester." 

Madras is rich in educational institutions, among 
which are a Medical College, School of Arts, 
Engineering College, Harris School for Moham- 
medans, Doveton College for Eurasians, Govern- 
ment Normal School, Government Madrissa School 
for Mohammedans, Military Female Orphan Asy- 
lum, Hindu Schools for boys, Hindu Schools for 
girls. Convent School, Free Church Schools, Scot- 
tish Orphanage, Bishop's School, London Mission 



Schools of Madras, 161 

Schools, Churcli Mission Schools for boys, and 
for girls, Wesleyan Schools, Three Schools main- 
tained by the Rajah of Vizianagram, Female Nor- 
mal Schools, Hindu Proprietary, and two other 
schools under purely native management, and 
perhaps some others. 

The Madras Museum is a valuable institution, in 
which the educated natives are said to take much 
interest. 

The Agri-Horticultural Gardens are delightful, 
and abound in wonderful specimens of plants and 
animals, with some gigantic and curious specimens 
of forest growth. 

In many respects Madras is esteemed the very 
queen of the Indian capitals ; and the whole city 
wears an aspect of refinement, intelligence, and 
growing prosperity. 



CHAPTER IV. 



PRESIDENCY OF BOMBAY. 



THE Presidency of Bombay comprises a strip 
of territory about nine hundred miles in 
length, extending from the northern limit of 
Scinde to the kingdom of Mysore on the south, 
along more than two-thirds of the west coast of 
Hindustan. Its greatest breadth is two hundred 
and fifty miles. The Presidency contains twenty- 
two districts apportioned' among three Commis- 
sioners, i.e.^ Scinde on the north, and the northern 
and southern divisions of Bombay proper, in 
which are included Ahmedabad, Kaira, Surat, 
Broach, Bombay Island, Darwar, Candeish, Tauna 
or North Concon, Rutnagherry or South Concon, 
Poonah, Ahmednuggur, and Canara. The large 

feudatory states of Cutch and Guzerat, the chiefs 

162 



Climate and Products, 165 

of which are subject merely to British supervision, 
intervene between Scinde and the northern and 
southern divisions. The coast-line is about a thous- 
and and fifty miles in length. In regard to soil, 
there is a great diversity in the several regions. 
That of Scinde comprises the low, level basin of 
the Indus, where strips of exceedingly fertile land 
alternate with deserts ; the two Concons form a 
hilly region lying between the Western Ghauts 
and the Arabian Sea ; the eastward slope of the 
Western Ghauts forming the lovely, elevated table- 
lands, enjoy an almost perennial verdure ; while 
around the Gulf of Cambay the land is flat and 
alluvial. There exists an equal variation in regard 
to climate — that of Scinde being sultry and dry, 
with only a light rainfall ; in the Concons the heat 
is as great as in Scinde, but the fall of rain is 
much greater. The average annual temperature 
of Bombay Island is about 80°, and the rainfall 
averages eighty inches per annum, while on the 
Ghauts table-lands the climate is temperate and 
salubrious. The vegetable products are cotton 
and rice on the coast ; sugar and indigo in Can- 
deish ; wheat, barley, hemp and tobacco in Scinde, 
and opium in the native states of Malwa and 



166 Presidency of Bombay. 

Guzerat. Merchants who wish to send their opium 
to the city of Bombay need to obtain permits 
from the government, by whom it is purchased at 
a certain price per chest: and the producers dare 
not dispose of it elsewhere. Considerable quan- 
tities of silk are raised, a -id there are silk manufac- 
tories in some of the towns. The system of land 
taxes in Bombay was very carefully arranged 
before being put into operation, about twenty 
years ago. There has been a survey and assess- 
ment of all the lands ; and the fields have been 
mapped and marked by permanent objects, the re- 
moval of which is a j)enal offence. They are 
classified for assessment with reference to soil, 
climate, and proximity to market, and with very 
few exceptions the land is held directly from the 
government. When the rate of taxation was 
fixed, it was equal to one-half the yearly value of 
the land ; but in consequence of the general im- 
provement of the lands, the proportion now is said 
to be somewhat less. The land revenue is reported 
as yielding a larger sum per capita than in any 
other section of India. There are now very 
nearly two thousand miles of railway in this Pres- 
idency ; and the city of Bombay has the honor of 



■^^. III" 'I I ' 

lV^ , I II I I I l|l| I , II 

L 1^1 ' I I l!J , 



' ii' I III! I llljl'l 



w;,iii'j„iii 
I 



. "ir'f'iii.;}!;] 

' 111' LI- 




168 Presidency of Bomhay. 

having had the first railway in the East Indies. 
It was opened between that city and Tanna, April 
6, 1853. Bombay is now the terminus of the 
" liombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway," 
and of the great " Indian Peninsular Railway," as 
well as of the steamship lines from England. 
There is also telegraphic communication with Cal- 
cutta, opened in 1854, and with Falmouth, Eng- 
land, opened 1870, by means of cables, via Aden, 
Malta, and Gibraltar. 

There are about three hundred schools in the 
Presidency, with an attendance of about fourteen 
thousand pupils ; five-sixths of whom are in- 
structed in the native languages, and only one- 
sixth in English. The Island of Bombay is one of 
an important group that have planted themselves 
before the estuary or wide mouth of the river 
Oolas, seeming thereby to form a sort of delta. 
The island, which was the first possession in India 
ever acquired by the English, is eight miles long, 
and about twenty miles in circumference. Shortly 
before the marriage of Charles II. of England 
with the Infanta Catharine of Portugal, this island 
was convej-ed to the crown of England, as part of 
the dowry of that princess. About seven years 



170 Presidency of Bombay. 

later the king transferred it to the East India 
Company, who held it at an annual rental of ten 
pounds sterling, until 1858, when the home gov- 
ernment assumed direct control of all the British 
East India possessions. The old town is called the 
Kila or " Fort," and occupies the southern extrem- 
ity of the island, facing the wide beautiful harbor. 
To call it a " fort " is, however, something of a 
misnomer, for there is much beside the citadel 
within those walls ; and one meets here, at least in 
times of peace, much more of the din of trade 
and the hurry and bustle of commercial life than 
of the cannon's roar, or the murderous array of 
battle. The visitor enters, it is true, by a fortified 
gate, and there are veritable ramparts and a strong 
fortress well manned by native troops with Euro- 
pean officers ; but there is a great deal else within 
the walls of the so-called " Fort." There are 
splendid docks, immense warehouses, a fine arse- 
nal, and those famous cotton presses, with whole 
mountains of the " raw material," waiting to be 
baled and shipped to China or Europe. Higher 
up toward the centre of the fort, and round an 
immense square are the Banks, the Town Hall, the 
Mint, and all the great commercial houses of the 



Bombay, ITl 

city. In a word, all that represents the enormous 
wealth and world-wide commerce of this great, 
busy city. But never a dwelling ! It is a stu- 
pendous business mart : but neither native nor 
European lives there. Going to the Fort at even 
an hour after sunrise, one finds the long, narrow, 
dirty streets without sign of life, save for the 
measured tread of the peon (policeman) on duty. 
But by half-past nine or ten o'clock the appearance 
changes utterly ; doors are thrown open, the busy 
hum of voices and the rumble of wheels are heard 
everywhere, and the wide, beautiful esplanade is 
lined with carriages from which step forth mer- 
chants and their numerous employees, (every 
clerk has his own palanquin, and no Europeans 
walk in India) ; bank officers with their clerks, buy- 
ers, sellers, jobbers, inspectors and idlers. Every- 
body turns toward the Fort, the grand centre of 
attraction during all the business hours of the 
day ; but deserted again at 4 P. M., when every 
carriage is re-occupied and rolls away as it came, 
with its living freight ; white-robed natives, pro- 
tected by huge umbrellas, file out with dignified 
serenity, and again the grand business mart, lately 
so full of life and activity, is left in silence and 



172 Presidency of Bombay, 

solitude as complete as that of a city of the dead, 
until once more resurrected by the " ten bells " 
of the morning hour that wake the sleeping city 
to new life and activity. For residence, each 
nation has its separate "quarter," where national 
habits and social proclivities may be indulged with- 
out danger of offending the prejudices of others. 
Nearer than any other race to the business portion 
of the city, reside the Parsees and Bhoras, two 
eminently mercantile races, who live always at 
their places of business, preferring to sacrifice the 
pleasures and comforts of residence in other more 
eligible sections in order to larger success in trade. 
The Parsee Bazaar of Bombay is a long, winding 
street, lined with tall, handsome, capacious man- 
sions. Their first floor composed of substantial, 
but rather gloomy-looking stalls, is devoted to 
business purposes, whilst the upper stories, with 
their broad wooden balconies painted in bright 
colors, and numerous windows carved and orna- 
mented, form dwelling-places of luxury and 
elegance, despite their unfashionable location. 
Many of these Parsee dwellings are furnished in 
princely style, with gorgeous silk and lace hang- 
ings, Persian carpets, exquisitely-inlaid satin-lined 



174 Presidency of Bombay. 

furniture, and incredible quantities of gold and 
silver plate. The owners live like lords and enter- 
tain in sumptuous style, though shrewd financiers 
and indefatigable traders during business hours. 
Some Europeans reside at Colaba, a long, 
narrow promontory at the extreme end of the 
island to the south of the Fort. Lying between 
the port and Back Bay, it possesses one of the 
most salubrious climates on the island. It has 
also excellent roads and lovely gardens laid out 
all around the spacious, elegant bungalows that 
form the favorite residences of wealthy merchants 
and others in this section. These bungalows are 
constructed on a plan specially suited to a tropical 
climate. Being built on raised terraces of brick- 
work, they are kept perfectly dry and free from 
the deleterious miasma produced by the abundant 
vegetation of the tropics; the roof of very thick 
attap-leaved thatch laid on double, secures cool- 
ness far better than tiles or slate ; and the broad 
verandahs on all sides protect the walls from the 
heat of the sun, while the Venetian blinds from 
floor to ceiling may be thrown wide open at night 
to admit the refreshing breezes no longer freighted 
with torrid heat. Other residents, preferring more 



Bombay, 175 

stately mansions occupy large stone-faced dwell- 
ings with porticoes and marble columns, in Euro- 
pean style, that serve to give variety to the land- 
scape. On the extremity of the promontory are 
built the English Barracks, so well spoken of for 
their commodious arrangement and admirable 
adaptation to a warm climate ; and still beyond is 
the Colaba Light House that commands the en- 
trance to the harbor, with her clear light plainly 
visible for thirty miles from the shore. On the 
northern side of the Fort and the beautiful Maidan 
or esplanade that runs along the sea-beach in 
front of the fort, is the " Black Town," so called 
by Europeans, because only natives reside there. 
All the streets that traverse this great, crowded 
town are broad and long ; the bazaar streets are 
bordered by small booths, the flooring of which 
being raised several feet above the side-walk, 
serves as a counter upon which to display the mul- 
titudinous wares here offered for sale. The houses 
that skirt the bazaars are of boards or brick, and 
usually three or four stories high, with porticoes, 
carved fronts, and pillars painted in bright colors, 
giving a quaint appearance, not altogether un- 
pleasing. The ground floor of many of the houses 



176 Presidency of Bombay. 

forms the workshops of artisans, where, in gloomy 
little dens, multitudes of half-naked workmen 
busily ply their respective crafts, producing by the 
aid of only the most primitive tools those marvels 
in ebony, silver and ivory of such world-wide 
reputation, as well as arabesques and mosaics in 
multitudinous forms, that sell in Europe for fabu- 
lous prices. Among the most interesting features 
of the bazaars, two especially attract the European 
strangers. The first is the great number of races 
found here, characterized by such infinite diversity 
of form, feature and costume ; and the second is 
the wonderful Arab horse-market, where probably 
more first-class horses are offered for sale than in 
any other single mart in the world. The great 
number and variety of foreign races found here 
is due first, to Bombay's being the port of arrival 
for emigrants from Persia, Arabia, and Africa, and 
the point of departure for pilgrims bound to Mecca 
and Karbala ; and second to the immense foreign 
trade of this great shipping city, that supplies the 
products of Europe, Arabia, and Northern Africa 
to at least two-thirds of India. It is worth a trip 
across the ocean to study some of these faces, so 
full of majestic repose and serene dignity ; and 



178 Presidency of Bombay, 

even their varied costumes are worthy of inspec- 
tion, as indices of national character and habits. 
Here are Persians or " Parsees " in their tall caps, 
noting down every arrival, or discussing prices ; 
Arabs, robed as their countrymen were in the days 
when Joseph was carried a slave, into Egypt : 
stoufc specimens of humanity from Guzerat, each 
with fine muslin enough to manufacture half a 
dozen " suits," twisted in pyramidal form about 
his shapely head, and dubbed a " turban ; " the 
Bunniah of Cutch, whose keen black eyes gleam 
nearly as brightly as the cornelians he is " sort- 
ing" with evident pride; companies of blue- 
turbaned men of Cabul, whose chief business in 
life seems to be the perpetual munching of dates ; 
Bedouins always, however otherwise employed, 
solacing themselves with the long '' bubble bub- 
bles " that are at once their joy and pride ; stately 
Gentoos, comely and graceful, in flowing robes of 
pure white muslin; and the filthy Hindu fakir, 
hideous in his nakedness and deformity ; the 
lordly Rajputs from the North, Sporting their jew- 
elled weapons, and the busy Badagas of Southern 
India, offering for sale the small crops cultivated 
on their hill-side farms ; the courteous Chinese, 



Bombay. 179 

always gentlemen, under whatever disguise of 
poverty or provocation : the grave Burmese, the 
cunning Malay, the stately Moor, with his insepa- 
rable companion, the gold-mounted hookah^ and 
the smoke rising ever in graceful wreaths about 
his turbaned head ; all these, and scores of others, 
a busy multitude, gathered it would seem, from 
ever}^ point of the compass; and all eagerly intent 
upon trading off his own wares at the highest 
price, and putting down those of his neighbor to 
the lowest. And their speech, what a veritable 
Babel it is ! Who can be the listeners ? — for they 
all seem talking at once, and each a different lan- 
guage. Confused and confounded, the bewildered 
tourist turns with a sense of relief to the horses^ 
upon whose magnificent proportions he may feast 
his eyes, without imagining that they are all ad- 
dressing him in some unknown tongue, to which it 
is as impossible for him to reply, as it is clearly his 
duty to do so. So he looks on, thankful that 
horses do not talk. 

There are pure-blooded Arabs from Djowfet and 
Nedjed, lovely, graceful creatures, with long, silky 
manes, and eyes tender as a gazelle's; Persian 
breeds of the most approved standard, noble ani- 



180 Presidency of Bombay, 

mals with arched neck and fiery eye, and every 
curve a line of symmetry and beauty ; superb 
English trotters, and shaggy Shetlands. He must 
be fastidious indeed whose equine desires cannot 
be gratified in such an assortment as this, where 
are obtained regularly all the magnificent horses 
displayed daily on the esplanade, so noted for its 
suberb " turnouts " on the fashionable drive. 
Prices range from fifty dollars, to thousands ; but 
all lower by at least a hundred per cent, than the 
same horses would be in Europe or America; 
many a horse being sold here for fl.500 that 
would bring readily |3,000, in the home market. 

In the "Black Town" of Bombay, are several 
large Hindu Temples, and one noted Mohamme- 
dan Mosque, the Jumma Musjid — - all handsome 
edifices, worthy of inspection; but of far more 
interest to strangers is the great Jain Hospital for 
Animals^ the largest and most complete establish- 
ment of the sort in India. This hospital is located 
in the centre of the most densely populated 
quarter of the Black Town. It is supported by 
contributions from the most wealthy members oi 
the Ja'in Fraternity; and here are received and 
comfortably maintained, all sick, helpless, and de- 




' t it -■ 



182 Presidency of Bombay, 

formed animals of ever}^ species, the nursing and 

attendance being continued until they either die or 

recover. Just inside the gate is a large court, 

surrounded by sheds, where are kept only oxen 

and cows, as these animals being regarded as sacred 

by the Hindus, receive the first care, and a hall or 

area exclusively their own. In the next court are 

^disabled horses, and in another, dogs, cats and 

monkeys. Some sheep and goats also find an 

asylum here ; and yet, farther on, are birds, fowls, 

insects, and even reptiles; each class having a 

quarter distinct from the others, where the peculiar 

wants and habits of every individual inmate are, 

as far as possible, provided for. Some of the 

animals have bandages over their eyes ; others, 

who are in a lame or helpless condition, are 

frequently rubbed down by the attendants; and 

both food and water are placed within reach of 

the lame or paralyzed. All are constantly supplied 

with clean straw, with water in abundance, and 

with every facilit}' for comfort and cleanliness, 

and are fed, bathed, and dosed when necessary, 

with the same gentle care and tenderness that are 

bestowed upon human beings. Bald monkeys, 

and superannuated crows and vultures are no 



A71 Asylum for Beasts. 183 

uncommon sights in this paradise of the brute 
creation : and occasionally is found there, even a 
wooden leg supplying the place of the original 
member. 

Oriental nations are proverbially kind to dumb 
animals, even beggars often sharing their scanty 
meals with stranger brutes that happen to pass 
them when eating. The religion of both Buddhists 
and Brahminists especially enjoins this care for 
the well-being of dumb animals; but the Jains, 
even more than other sects, cherish for all animal 
life this kindly regard ; not content with never 
harming a dumb creature, but rigidly inculcating 
the obligation to protect the lives, alleviate the 
sufferings, and supply the needs, so far as possible, 
of every living thing^ large or small. There can 
be no question that to this injunction in regard to 
the care of brute creatures is due the very great 
numbers of wild beasts and noxious reptiles found 
in every part of India, and the fearful depredations 
they are constantly committing. Suffered for 
ages to roam unharmed through these dense Indian 
jungles, enjoying perfect immunity from danger, 
they have gone on multiplying and increasing till, 
in some regions, they seem likely to become the 



184 Presidency of Bombay. 

lords paramount of the country. Of late years, 
the English Government in India have put fortlt 
most energetic efforts for the destruction of tigers, 
offering a reward of from fifty to one hundred 
rupees for every one killed ; but so little impres- 
sion has yet been made on the immense herds of 
these ferocious animals, that hundreds of children 
are annually carried off by them. In 1877, the 
number reached, I think, nearly four hundred in 
India alone. 

The European and Mussulman Cemeteries, and 
the Cremation Grounds of the Hindus, have all 
their location outside the Black Town, reaching 
toward the sea-beach, where the surging waves 
sing a perpetual requiem well suited to the 
solitary grandeur of this tropical city of the dead. 

Farther on, toward Chowpatti, Malabar Hill, 
the ai'istocratic quarter of Bombay is reached. 
It is a hilly promontory, larger than Colaba, and 
contains many princely dwellings, surrounded by 
the choicest shrubbery and rare old forests of 
venerable trees. Among the cultivated trees are 
found the gigantic Baobab, several varieties of the 
Chinese Pine, quaint, dwarfed and knotted in every 
conceivable form ; and most beautiful of all, the 



186 Presidency of Bombay. 

" Gold of Moliur Acacia," with its gleaming 
sprays and clusters of golden blooms glancing out 
from among the emerald leaves. 

The Governor's house is built on the summit 
of a steep declivity at the extremity of the 
island, and commands a noble view of the sea. 
This is no longer the constant residence of the 
Governor of Bombay ; but being regarded as the 
most salubrious portion of the island, it is always 
resorted to, in times of fever or other epidemics. 
The ordinary residence is the Parell Government 
House, where the Prince of Wales was entertained 
on his recent tour. 

On the western coast of the Malabar promon- 
tory is the village of Walkeshwar, diminutive 
enough in size, but withal one of the rdost sacred 
places in India. The Brahmins relate a legend 
that has for its hero the god Rama, who, while on 
a warlike expedition to Lunka, used to receive 
every night, through the good offices of a geni, 
" an emblem," whereby he was able to continue 
his devotions to Siva. But on one occasion, when 
the emblem had failed to appear, Rama, with his 
hand, scooped up a little sand from the seashore, 
and fashioned an idol. The spot whence the sand 



WalkesJiwar. 187 

was dug at once became a deep pool, that is still 
in existence ; and a village springing up around 
this wonderful idol, was called Walkeshwar, i. e., 
" The god of the sands." .The pool is situated in 
the centre of a spacious square, completely sur- 
rounded by temples ; while the water, fifty yards 
below the level, is reached by flights of stone 
steps, that are always thronged by crowds 
of men and women, anxiously pressing for- 
ward to reach the brink of the sacred pool. 
Some kneel on the steps in contemplation ; others 
plunge in, or sprinkle their bodies with the holy 
water ; and all are repeating prayers and passages 
of the sacred books. Brahmins, and devotees of 
various orders, ask alms, and parade their religious 
creeds, while some of the followers of Krishna, 
under his most shameful form, elbow their way 
through the crowd, clothed in characteristic garb, 
ready for the perpetration of the most infamous 
vices. The temples that surround the pool are of 
great antiquity, and their columns are covered 
with graceful sculptures. The spires, too, are of 
wondrous beauty, but the effect is injured by their 
diminutive size. Beyond Walkeshwar, on the 
highest point of the road that passes along the 



188 Presidency of Bombay. 

crest of Malabar Hill, is the '^ Tower of Silence," 
where the Parsees deposit their dead; * and beyond 
the hill to the northward is Bycullah, another 
great suburb of Bombay, marshy, gloomy and in- 
salubrious, but densely populated by Parsees, half- 
castes, and the poorest class of Europeans. 

In the rear of Bycullah rise the hills of Maza- 
gon, a quaint sort of Portuguese settlement, where 
many descendants of the old colonists have taken 
up their abode, and intermarrying with the natives 
of the country, their manners, religion, dress and 
appearance have become largely modified thereby. 
Yet they retain the name of Portuguese Christians. 
Their very peculiar dress is of the European order, 
with none of the Asiatic grace or adaptation to 
climate. Their especial mania seems to be for the 
black silk hat, a specimen of which, though in 
ever so dilapidated a condition, often lacking both 
nap and brim, must be worn by every man of 
them. 

The soil of this portion of the island is ex- 
tremely fertile ; and trees, shrubs and every kind 
of vegetation is of the rankest growth. The 
climate is correspondingly unhealthy, and amid the 

*As elsewhere explained under the head of " Ceremonies for the Dead." 




JUGGLERS. 



Bombay. - 191 

thick jungly growth, venomous serpents and 
snakes of many varieties abound, often lying hid- 
den within the petals of the brightest and most 
beauteous flowers. 

At the very extremity of Mazagon, is the 
superb palace of Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, who 
was the wealthiest Parsee merchant in Bombay, 
and the first East Indian who ever received knight- 
hood at the hands of a British Sovereign. The 
palace is built in pure Gothic style, and was be- 
queathed by Sir Jamsetjee, at his death, to the 
city of Bombay, to be used as a hospital for the 
sick of all nations without distinction of race or 
creed. In front of this palace hospital the Eng- 
lish have erected a handsome statue of the noble 
donor, to perpetuate the memory of this munifi- 
cent charity. 

These various " quarters " and " suburbs " to- 
gether constitute the noble city of Bombay, which 
contains a population of eight hundred thousand, 
of whom eight thousand are Europeans, thirty 
thousand Parsees, one hundred and twenty thous- 
and Mohammedans, and the residue of vari- 
ous Hindu races. Prominent among the in- 
stitutions of the city is the " Royal Asiatic 



192 Presidency of Bombay. 

Society," devoted to the promotion of Oriental 
learning. 

During the years 1863 - 1865, when the late 
civil war in our country was at its height, events 
occurred in Bombay that raised that cit}- to the 
very summit of commercial prosperity; but, only 
to plunge her into the depths of a great commer- 
cial crisis, from which she has even yet scarce^ 
recovered. By the disturbed state of affairs in the 
United States, Europe was for the time deprived 
of the cotton that was the one element most nec- 
essary to her industrial existence ; and India had, 
by most noteworthy efforts, been able to step into 
the place thus made vacant. She was already pre- 
pared to supply in good degree the means of 
feeding the cotton manufactories of the world ; 
and Bombay merchants, seizing upon the great 
commercial advantages afforded by their city, had 
attracted to it the entire trade in India cottons, 
making themselves the sole arbiters of this impor- 
tant branch, of Indian trade. Even before this, 
the trade of Bomba}^ had been enormous ; and 
now that she had suddenly become the emporium 
of all the cotton of India, the elation of her many 
rich capitalists led them into the wildest specula- 



Cotton Speculation. 193 

tions. Deeming the reconstruction of the United 
States an impossibility, they prophesied for their 
city a future of commercial eclat that no combi- 
nation of circumstances could possibly reverse. 
All sorts of speculations were entered upon, all 
available funds* invested, and the entire com- 
munity were drawn into the wild schemes, in 
which each saw for himself untold wealth and 
the most encouraging openings for future opera- 
tions. Gigantic companies were formed to develop 
resources that had already reached their utmost 
capacity for development. Projects were set on 
foot to enlarge the Bombay Island, by reclaiming 
from the sea the region known as " Back Bay ; " 
many new Banks were formed; and not only mer- 
chants, but ofBcers, public functionaries, even 
ladies, and subordinates on small pay — all were 
drawn into the vortex, expecting to realize fabu- 
lous fortunes; when, with the news of General 
Lee's surrender, and the establishment of peace, 
a crash came, and wide-spread ruin fell upon all the 
speculators. The strongest houses shared the fate 
of the rest, and eveii the Bank of Bombay was 
compelled temporarily to suspend. The exalta- 
tion had been unprecedently rapid, and the fall 



194 . Presidency of Bomhay. 

was sudden and terrible. But a lesson of pru- 
dence was learned, and now, with firmer footing, 
and broader and deeper foundations, the queenly 
city of Bombay once again begins her onward 
career as the commercial metropolis of India. 

Surat, the name of which signifies "the good 
city," is one of the most ancient ports of Western 
India. The high, thick walls that form the ram- 
parts of the city are still called Alampanah, 
which means, " Protector of the Land," though 
they look too dilapidated to be very much of a 
safeguard. They are, however, strengthened by 
numerous round towers, and form a circuit of 
about six miles. It is a busy, enterprising town, 
whose people seem not inclined to be idle. The 
bazaars abound in beautiful and costly wares, 
especially the various vessels and ornaments of 
wrought iron, inlaid with gold and silver, for 
which Surat is noted, the art having come down 
to her from a remote antiquity. The city is 
beautifully situated at the mouth of the majestic 
Taptee, with every facility for a large trade. 

Broach, about sixty miles north of Surat, has 
long been famous for its Chandi Musjid, " Silver 
Mosque." It contains the mausoleums of the 



Callian, 195 

Nawabs ; and one of them, being covered with 
plates of silver, has given name to the edifice. 
Many of the other sarcophagi are of white marble, 
beautifully carved, and are placed beneath superb 
canopies of embroidered velvet. 

Callian, the ancient capital of Concon, was long 
one of the first commercial ports on the west of 
India ; and tradition has brought down even to 
our own day marvellous accounts of the wealth 
and splendor it attained under the Solauki dynasty. 
Its palaces and monuments furnished themes for 
poets and novelists ; and a writer in the " Ratan 
Mala," a famous Hindu poem of the seventh 
century, thus immortalizes the grand old metropo- 
lis : '•'• The sun alternately passes six months of 
the year in the north, and six months in the 
south, for the sole purpose of being able to com- 
pare the marvellous capital of Ceylon with the 
superb city of Callian." It now, however, retains 
little trace of the royal grandeur of its palmy 
days, save in the ruins of ancient temples and 
palaces; its present position being that of an Eng- 
lish provincial town, with the ordinary routine of 
" reduced " greatness. But all around the sub- 
urbs, half-hidden by sand and jungle-grass, lie 



196 Presidency of Bombay, 

fragments of columns of exquisite beauty, curi- 
ously-carved lintels, bas-reliefs, and sculptures in 
endless variety, where may be read the mournful 
story of the past.' These ruins, furnish material 
enough to enrich half a dozen " collections " of 
Hindu antiquities, or form the basis of a museum. 
The grand old temple of Ambernath — grand 
and magnificent even in ruins — cannot fail to in- 
terest with its minute and exquisitely-wrought 
sculptures, all executed with a delicacy of touch 
and a lavishness of adornment unknown among 
other races. 

Poonah, situated upon the banks of the Moota, 
stands in the centre of a broad plain that stretches 
out, almost treeless, to the blue mountains of Sattara. 
It was once the capital of the Southern Mahratta 
country, and the residence of the Peishwahs, 
though it now belongs to the English, and is in- 
cluded in the Bombay Presidency. The town is 
still essentially native in its character and sur- 
roundings, a very large proportion of the inhab- 
itants being Hindus ; and the streets swarming 
with well-fed Brahmins, and half-naked religious 
devotees who live by charity — the former, neatly- 
clothed impersonations of self-satisfied ease ; and 



Poonah. 197 

the latter, filthy and repulsive to the last extreme. 
Through the streets roam unmolested, as in every 
native Indian town, multitudes of sacred oxen, 
that, as representatives of deity, are permitted to 
enter the bazaars and shops, eat at the stalls, and 
even to block up the streets, if they feel so inclined. 
The town is divided into seven quarters, called 
after the seven days of the week ; and the houses, 
standing in the midst of pretty gardens, are built 
in the picturesque Hindu style, w^ith tiled roofs, 
wooden gables, and panels painted in bright colors, 
representing flowers and animals, with various 
mythological figures and scenes. Several palaces 
still remain ; among them a summer residence of 
the Peishwahs, in the immediate vicinity of the 
celebrated Hira Baugh^ " Garden of Diamonds." 
In the BoudJiwa^ or Wednesday quarter, there are 
many ancient houses, formerly occupied by nobles 
of the Peishwah's court ; and castle-like abodes 
with thick walls, loop-holed windows, and great 
ponderous doors, that remind one of the feudal 
castles of Europe of the fourteenth and fifteenth 
centuries. Yery few of these ancient dwellings 
are now occupied, for though man}^ wealthy 
Mahrattas return here to enjoy the riches accu- 



198 Presidency of Bombay. 

mulated elsewhere, tliey, as a rule, prefer the 
more modern and cheerful-looking mansions with 
which the town abounds. Among the celebrities 
of Poonah, is the famous temple of Parvati, which 
gives name to the lovely hill that overlooks the 
Hira Baugh. A flight of handsome steps leads 
from the Peishwah's summer pavilion up to the 
front of this temple, on the very summit. The 
.temple contains several exquisite statuettes of 
Parvati; but that which attracts most admiration 
is a massive silver image of Siva, holding on his 
knees the statues of his wife and child, Parvati 
and the young Ganesa, executed in pure gold. 
Large, costly sapphires form the eyes of these 
famous images, and their altars are piled perpetu- 
ally with the richest oblations. 

At the junction of the Moota and Moola rivers, 
is the Sangam^ where the Hindus burn their dead. 
There are also, on the banks of both rivers, numer- 
ous small kiosks or pleasure-houses, and many 
stately cenotaphs, designed to perpetuate the 
memory of departed great ones, though their 
ashes do not repose beneath the monuments. 
These kiosks are, nearly every evening, the scenes 
of mirth, music, and feasting ; inappropriate as to 




NATIVE OF MADRAS. 



200 Presidency of Bombay. 

us seems the locality, under the very shadow of the 
memorials of the dead. This is quite in accord 
with the creed of the Hindu, who takes no gloomy 
view of death, but regards this change of worlds not 
as a cessation of being, but merely a passage from 
one state of existence to another, one of the many, 
perhaps thousands of the lives to be lived ere his 
destiny is completed ; and as each successive turn 
of the wheel opens before him the vista of another 
change, whether for better or for worse, he^knows 
not, and does not trouble himself to inquire. 

The English Government House at Poonah is 
the stately palace of Granesh Khind. It is an 
imposing, marble structure, with a noble tower, 
and is built on a commanding site, with a magnifi- 
cent view of the varied Deccan scenery, and sur- 
rounded by gardens and conservatories worthy of 
an imperial palace. It was erected by Sir Bartle 
Frere, while Governor of Bombay, at a cost of 
$875,000. This was deemed by the English 
Home Government an extravagant outlay, espe- 
cially as Poonah is not the head-quarters of his 
Excellency, but o\\\j an outside station which he 
visits occasionally. The erection of this superb 
marble palace was, at the time, quoted by Mr. 




YOUNG HINDOO WQMAM. 



202 Presidency of Bombay. 

Fawcett in tlie House, as " a typical instance of 
the extravagance and insubordination of the gov- 
ernors of Bombay." To which implied censure 
Sir Bartle Frere replied, that he had built a very fine 
dwelling for future governors, that would be more 
regularly occupied than that at Bombay had ever 
been ; that he acted within his legal powers, and 
was not insubordinate, and that he had not, when 
he retired from the Government of Bombay, ex- 
pended all the money at his disposal ; and lastly, 
that Poonah would be thenceforth, de facto the cap^ 
ital of the Bombay Presidency. • 



CHAPTER V. 

PROVINCES AND PEOPLE. 

CHITTAGONG is a district of British India 
lying beyond the Ganges, but included in 
the Presidency of Bengal. It is one hundred and 
eightj^-five miles long, and an average of sixty to 
eighty in length. Its chief river, the Chittagong, 
is formed by the junction of the Kurrumfoolee and 
the Chingree, and discharges its waters into the 
Bay of Bengal. A large portion of the surface is 
covered by mountains, and there are several sum- 
mits that range from four thousand to eight thous- 
and feet above the sea-level. The soil of the 
plains and valleys is very fertile, yielding readily, 
with little labor, rice, oats, hemp, sugar, tobacco, 
coffee, indigo, betel-nut, mustard and ginger. The 

aboriginal inhabitants resemble the Burmese and 

205 



206 Provinces and People, 

Bengalese ; but at least two-thirds of them have 
been proselyted to the Mohammedan faith. 

Chittagong seems to have belonged originally to 
Tiperah, and to have become a part of the king- 
dom of Bengal early in the sixteenth century. 
During the wars between the Monguls and 
Afghans, Chittagong was held by Aracan ; but it 
was captured by Aurungzebe about the close of 
the seventeenth century. In 1760, it was ceded to 
the East India Company by the nawab of Bengal, 
and has since been under British control. 

Chittagong or Islamabad, the capital, is situated 
on and among a group of small and abrupt hills, 
some of which form pleasant villa residences; 
and command fine sea-views. The natives live 
along the valleys, in small cottages of bamboo, 
embowered in groves of fruit trees, with neat veg- 
etable gardens spread out in the rear. Chittagong 
was once a place of some importance in commerce 
and sliip-building, but it has declined rapidly in 
consequence of the unhealthiness of the climate, 
and its ship-building interests have been trans- 
ferred to Maulmein, of the Tenasserim Provinces. 
These Provinces were formerly sections of the 
Burmese Empire, but were annexed to the Anglo- 



Aracan. 207 

Indian possessions in 1826, and are now goveraed 
by a Commissioner, with the usual staff of Euro- 
pean and native officers, and they constitute one 
of the ten political districts of British India, ex- 
tending from the Bay of Bengal on the west, to 
the Mountains of Siam on the east in length 
about five hundred miles, with an average breadth 
of fifty miles. The country is divided into three 
provinces, Amherst, Tavoy and Mergui, with their 
capital at Maulmein. 

Aracan is a division of British India, including 
the districts of Akyab, Sandoway, and Ramree. 
It has an area of twentj^-three thousand five hun- 
dred square miles, and a population of about five 
hundred thousand. The country abounds in hills, 
with numerous intervening plains and valleys of 
great fertility, counterbalanced by dense jungles, 
and pestilential marshes that render most portions 
of the country extremely unhealthy for Euro- 
peans. Aracan is rich in salt, timber, coal, and 
petroleum, and produces fine crops of rice and 
tobacco. Rudimentary education is very generally 
diffused, nearly all the people being able to read 
and write. This country was conquered by the 
Burmese in 1783, and by the British in 1824. Its 



208 Provinces and People. 

capital is Akyab, pleasantly l(5cated, but with an 
unhealthy climate that repels immigration ; and 
the coast has few harbors to invite commerce. 

Assam is a province of the Bengal Presidency, 
lying between two mountain ranges, offshoots of 
the Himalayas, in the north-eastern extremity of 
Hindustan. It was once governed by a series 
of kings, concerning whom little is known until 
the seventeenth centur}^, when the Mogul Em- 
perors endeavored to annex this country to their 
dominions. The Assamese bravely and successfully 
repelled the invasion ; but from about that period 
internal dissensions arose, and the country became 
a prey to civil war, declining gradually in power 
until 1770, when the British troops interfered in a 
conspiracy against the Rajah, and annexed a por- 
tion of the province as compensation for having 
acted as umpires between the Rajah and his rebel- 
lious subjects. During the war with Burmah, in 
1826, the British took full possession and annexed 
the whole of Assam to their Indian possessions, 
for reasons that to themselves at least were fully 
satisfactory. This entire country, between the 
mountain ranges that enclose it on three sides, con- 
sists of a long, level plain, studded occasionally 



Assam, 209 

with small hills. It is watered by the Brahma- 
putra and sixty smaller streams, so that Assam is 
supposed to contain more rivers than any other 
equal extent of territory in the world. The name 
of the Brahmaputra is derived from two Sanscrit 
words that mean " The Creator " and " The Son," 
and these Assamese claim not only that their great 
river is the special favorite of their gods, but also, 
that they are themselves the chief people of the 
earth, having derived their origin from the Hindu 
god Indra, who presides over the atmosphere, and 
to whom the other gods are subordinate. The soil 
of Assam is fertile, and the climate one of the 
pleasantest and most salubrious in India. The 
country is rich in mineral products, consisting of 
coal, iron, gold dust, and petroleum. The tea- 
plant is indigenous here, and is extensively culti- 
vated under the auspices of the English " Assam 
Tea Company." The country has about eighteen 
thousand acres of land under cultivation, planted 
with tea-shrubs, that produce an excellent article, 
very favorably known in commerce. Sugar, 
tobacco and wheat are also grown ; and silk is 
produced to a limited extent. The people are 
small in stature, though lithe and active, and in 



210 Provinces and People. 

person resemble the Bengalese. Tliey live in huts 
made of mats and bamboo-poles, are rather indo- 
lent in disposition, and lack energy, but are gener- 
ally kind in their families and hospitable to 
strangers. The prevailing religion is Brahminism, 
but there are also many Mohammedans. 

The Principality of Kishengurh is one of the 
smallest independent states in Rajputana, and was 
for a long time, part of the kingdom of Marwar. 
In 1613, King Oudey Singh gave it as an appanage 
to his son, Kishan Singh, v^ho established himself 
in the town that he called by his own name, and 
which retains this cognomen still. When the 
English began to* interfere with the affairs of Raj- 
putana, this little State at once acknowledged 
their supremacy, and has since continued under 
British protection. Kishengurh is enclosed by the 
kingdoms of Marwar, Mey war, and Jeypore, and the 
province of Ajmere. The sand from the neighbor- 
ing desert has continued its encroachments, till it 
now covers the entire surface to the depth of 
several feet, rendering the land barren and worth- 
less, except for a short period immediately after 
the rains. But the country has valuable salt- 
works and mines, that yield the Rajah an annual 



Kishengurh. 21l2> 

revenue of about 1300,000, and also afford ample 
employment to his subjects. The capital, a city 
of about sixteen thousand . inhabitants, is built on 
a high hill, and overlooks the pretty, picturesque 
Lake Gondola. It has a citadel on the very sum- 
mit of the hill, with a double line of ramparts ; 
and all the approaches to the town, even the 
streets, are steep and precipitous enough to serve 
as fortifications. Some portions of the ramparts 
are one hundred and fifty feet high, and overlook 
the country around. On one side is the town, 
with its temples, palaces, and gardens radiant in 
their ripe, floral beauty ; and on the other, is seen 
the Lake dotted with tiny islands, from which 
arise pretty, picturesque kiosks and pavilions of 
ever varying forms. 

The present Rajah Adhiraj Purtwee Singh, is a 
noble specimen of the Rajput race, fine-looking, 
dignified and self-contained, with fierce black eyes, 
and the air of an emperor to the purple born. 

Cashmere, lying in the extreme north-western 
section of India, is almost enclosed by the ranges 
of the Karakorum and Himalaya mountains that 
separate it from Tartary, Thibet, and the British 
districts of Lahoul and Spiti. Its area is estimated 



214 Provinces and People, 

at seven hundred and fifty thousand square miles, 
and includes within its limits the celebrated vale 
of Cashmere, the provinces of Jamoo, Balti, 
Ladakh, Chamba, and some other portions of ter- 
ritory. The " Valley of Cashmere," so often the 
theme of poets and novelists, is of an irregular 
oval form, shut in by lofty mountains that securely 
shelter it from adverse breezes ; and though some 
of the summits are crowned with perpetual snow, 
the temperature of the, valley is mild and equable, 
and the climate salubrious. This valley is nearly 
six thousand feet above the sea-level ; and the 
Alluvial plain that forms its bottom is seventy 
miles long and forty broad. It may be entered by 
many passes, eleven of which are practicable for 
equestrians, and several for wheeled vehicles. The 
highest, including the Pir Panjal, have an elevation 
of twelve thousand feet. The Jhylum, a tributary 
of the Indus, is the principal river, and flows 
through the Baramula Pass, receiving many tribu- 
taries from the mountains before reaching the 
Punjaub. Scattered through the valley are sev- 
eral small lakes, which serve abundantly to irrigate 
the land, which is thus rendered fertile, and pro- 
duces often from thirty to sixtv fold. Rice is the 



The Vale of Cashmere, 2lS 

great staple, and the common food of the country ; 
but wheat, barley, maize, buckwheat and tobacco 
are also cultivated, and esculent vegetables are 
good and abundant. Among the fruits are those 
common in temperate latitudes : apples, pears, 
peaches, apricots, cherries, plums, grapes and pom- 
egranates. Flowers of rare beauty and fragrance 
abound, especially several varieties of Cashmerian 
rose, the " Mohur," " Cloth of Gold," " Empress," 
and others, unsurpassed in the whole world for 
delicacy of tint and rare perfume. The groves 
of chunars, poplars and cedars, with which the 
villages are adorned, were planted in the times of 
the Mogul Emperors, by imperial edict, and still 
flourish luxuriantly in this favored spot. The 
Cashmerians stand preeminent among Indian races 
for physical beauty. The men are tall, robust and 
athletic, and the women of wondrous beauty of 
form, and surpassing brilliancy of complexion. 
They are an intelligent, educated peojple, fond of 
poetry, and full of life and spirit ; but have the 
reputation of being addicted to cunning and un- 
truthfulness. The capital is Scrinaghur or Cash- 
mere, and the other towns Islamabad, Shupeyon, 
Pampur, and Sopur. The principal manufactures 



2l6 Provinces and People, 

in addition to the famous Cashmere shawls, are 
lacquered ware in great variety, paper, gun and 
pistol barrels, and attar of rose. The wool for 
the shawls comes originally from Tartary and 
Thibet, but is bleached, spun and dyed in Cash- 
mere. The weaving i§ done mainly in the houses 
of the workmen, after patterns furnished them 
with the material. Each loom produces four or 
five shawls a year, of the medium grade ; but a 
single shawl of the best quality and most intricate 
pattern sometimes keeps four or five workmen 
constantly busy for one or two years. The num- 
ber of looms employed is estimated at about six- 
teen thousand. The weavers are brought up to 
the trade from infancy, and spend their whole lives 
at the work, becoming constantly more expert. 
Besides this, there have been in families certain se- 
crets of skill in the weaving that are transmitted as 
heirlooms, and not communicated to others. But it 
is said that the brilliant tints, and some of the pecul- 
iar shades, are due to the water and atmosphere of 
the country, and cannot be produced elsewhere. 
Handsome as are the French Cashmere shawls 
manufactured in Paris, Lyons and other cities, the 
very best are easily distinguished by experts, from 



Cashmere, 217 

the genuine India article. The Maharajah of 
Cashmere has full control of the exports of 
shawls, sending through his own agents to various 
European and Asiatic markets. 

Cashmere was conquered by the Mogul Emperor, 
Akbar, in 1587 ; by the Afghans in 1752 , and by 
the Seikhs in 1819. It was, in 1846, included in 
the territory transferred by the Seikhs to the Eng- 
lish, under the treaty of Lahore, and was immedi- 
ately sold by its new owners to Gholab Singh, for 
the sum of $3,750,000 ; but, by the compact 
between the Maharajah and the British Govern- 
ment, the Rajah is to be assisted in defending his 
territory against his enemies, and British supremacy 
is to be acknowledged. Cashmere suffered from 
an earthquake in 1828 that destroyed twelve hun- 
dred of her people ; only two months later Asiatic 
cholera carried off one hundred thousand in forty 
days ; and in 1833, famine and pestilence com- 
mitted still more frightful ravages. Famines that 
have occurred during the past five years have 
again made terrible havoc among the Cashmer- 
ians until her population which, at the beginning 
of the present century numbered eight hundred 
thousand, has been reduced to less than half that 



218 Provinces a7id People. 

number by these various casualties of pestilence, 
famine and earthquake. 

Afghanistan possesses almost every variety of 
soil and climate ; upon the summits of the Hindu 
Koorsh snow lies unbroken all the year round ; 
European fruits and vegetables are grown on the 
hill-side terraces seven hundred feet above the 
sea-level, while on the sandy plains, dates and 
other palms flourish luxuriantly ; and sugar, cotton 
and rice are grown in the valleys. The country 
abounds in mineral wealth. Its mines of iron, 
copper, lead, salt, sulphur, saltpetre and alum 
being especially rich. The two chief rivers are 
the Helmund and Cabul ; and the four most im- 
portant cities, Cabul the capital, Herat, Guzin and 
Candahar. The Afghans are a brave, hardy race ; 
in religion Sunnite Mohammedans, but very toler- 
ant towards both Christians and Pagans. 

It is only since the recent war with Afghanis- 
tan that an}^ portion of this great country could 
be properly reckoned as a constituent of British 
India. But since the English are to " control the 
foreign relations of Afghanistan," and to " have as 
granaries the great Kurrum and Khost Vallies," 
besides holding other important territory, formerly 



Bundelcund, 219 

belonging to the Afghans, some description of the 
country comes properly within the scope of the 
present work.* 

Bundelcund is the mountainous region between 
the Vindhyah table-land and the Jumna, and from the 
river Scinde on the northwest to the Tousa on 
the east. The whole country is intersected with 
small chains of mountains, and through the val-. 
leys flow small rivers, all of which fall into the 
Jumna. The principal of these streams are the 
Betowah, Dhesan and Cane. The northern por- 
tion of Bundelcund contains well-watered and 
thickly-populated plains, but the remainder is 
ahuost unbroken forests, said to be the finest in 
India. High above the sea-level, well-watered and 
near the tropics, they produce the best woods of 
both Northern and Southern India ; the mhowa, 
catechu, bur, tulip-wood, tamarind, teak, cedar, 
and many others. Such is Bundelcund of the 
present ; but the past, with its ruins of cities and 
palaces, its vast dykes and templed hills, has also 
a history. 

Three centuries before our era this mountain 
principality was a component of the Empire of 

*Brief details of tlis history of Afghanistan will be found in chapter XXIV. 



220 Provinces and People. 

Bindousara, and was nearly associated with Mag- 
adda. Huang Tcheng, the great Chinese traveller 
of the seventh century, describes a journey through 
Bundelcund, then known as Janjavati, and a " pow- 
erful and prosperous kingdom." During the 
eighth century it was invaded by the Rajput tribes 
of the Chandelaclan, who were in turn displaced 
by the Chohans of Delhi, in the tentli century. 
Then overrun by the Mussulman invasion, Bundel- 
cund ceased to have a political existence, and 
became a place of refuge for all the princes dispos- 
sessed by the Tartars. Later, it was split up into 
various small principalities, governed by bandit 
chiefs, who lived by pillage and plunged the 
country into rUin. In the fourteenth century, 
Hurdeo Singh, a Rajput prince of the Gurwha 
tribe, was expelled from the Kshatriya caste for 
marrying a Bourdi slave-girl, and left the Rajputs 
to go and reside at the court of one of the smaller 
sovereigns of Central India, where a young family 
grew up around him. In process of time the 
king's son became enamoured of Hurdeo's beauti- 
ful daughter, and asked her in marriage of her 
father. Hurdeo gave his consent, on condition 
that the king and his whole court would be present 




HINDOO WOMEN OF BOMBAY IN CEREMONIAL DRESS.. 



Assassination. 223 

at a banquet to be prepared by Hurdeo's own 
hand, thus forfeiting, as he himself had done, the 
right to the rank Kshatriya. From affection for 
his son the aged king consented to set aside his 
scruples, and on the nuptial day all the court 
were seated at the banquet around Hurdeo's 
princely board. There, in magnificent goblets of 
silver and gold, drinks containing opium were 
served to the guests who, being thus deprived of 
the power of resistance, fell an easy prey to 
Hurdeo's hired assassins, who stood concealed, 
each man armed with his weapon, behind the tap- 
estry at the upper end of the hall. The Gurwha 
having thus gained possession of this throne, soon 
made himself master of all the surrounding 
country ; and, with his sons and the numerous ad- 
herents he had enlisted in his cause, he formed a 
new clan known thenceforward as the Bourdilas, 
or " Sons of the Slave ; " thus giving the country 
its present name of Boundilakund or Bundelcund. 
The Bourdilas still claim to be Kajputs ; but the 
other tribes of Rajesthan refuse to recognize them ; 
and regarding them as outcasts, even on their own 
showing, will have no association with them. 
They seem to have retained the physical traits of 



224 Provinces and People. 

their Rajput ancestor, and to have fallen heir to 
the courage of his race ; but they inherit also the 
cruelty and treachery of the founder of the Bour- 
dilas clan, and " False as a Bourdila" has come to 
be a proverb among the Rajputs. The other 
Hindu races regard all the Bundelcund tribes as 
of impure blood ; and this savage countrj^ has 
gradually become the refuge of criminals and out- 
casts. Even the Brahmin Of Bundelcund eats 
mutton and drinks intoxicciting liquors, and the 
land has become noted for its brigandism. It was 
in these sombre forests that the horrible religion 
of the Thugs was born ; upon its lofty table-lands, 
formidable insurgents waged a terrible warfare 
against the English troops, during the mutiny of 
1857. The shocking butchery of Jhansie took j)lace 
witiiin its borders; and there Nena Saliib took 
refuge after the massacre of Cawnpore. There, 
too, for years flourished the Dacoits, a horde of 
highway robbers and assassins, who readily affiliate 
with the barbarism that isolates the mountain re- 
gion of this wild country from the other portions 
of India. This ancient principality has of late 
years been divided by the English into the dis- 
tricts of Bandah, Hummerpore, Culpee, Jaloon^ 




THE FESTIVAL OF THE SERPENTS, BOMBAY. 



226 Provinces and People, 

Jaitpore, Churgaon and Giirota, besides a number 
of native states and jagliires under petty Bourdilas 
chiefs. Tlie chief towns are Culpee, Bandah, 
Jhansie, Chutturpore, Jaloon, Callinger. Into its 
mountainous regions, and the portions under 
native control, few travellers attempt to penetrate ; 
and they are among the least known sections of 
the Indian Empire. 

Duttiah is the capital of a small kingdom of the 
same name in the district of Bundelcund, nearly 
midway on the route from Agra to Sangor. The 
State is under the protection of the English, has a 
territory of about eight hundred and fifty square 
miles, and a population of rather more than two 
hundred thousand. The town occupies a lovely, 
picturesque position among a whole belt of lakes, 
hills and forests. Above the red-tiled roofs of its 
residences rise the spires of many temples ; and 
standing out conspicuously above all, are two huge 
square buildings crowned with domes and towers, 
and readily recognizable as the abode of royalty. 
The town is surrounded by a thick wall, thirty- 
seven feet high, based upon rock, and strength- 
ened by round towers built into the wall, access 
being gained by fortified gates, each of which has 



228 Provinces and People. 

its guard -house — this barricade, in times of peace, 
being rendered necessary by the wild country 
around. The most noticeable features of the 
internal arrangements are the extreme cleanliness 
and excellent condition of the streets, and the 
many little running stream-s through the town. 
The temples are numerous, of simple construction, 
and somewhat peculiar form, consisting usually of 
a square chapel, surmounted by a high steeple 
flanked by four clock towers. Inside, there is even 
greater simplicity : merely painted walls, an altar 
unadorned, and the lingam of Iswara — the mystic 
emblem Siva. 

The palace erected by Birsing Deo, is a square 
of buildings, each side being three hundred feet 
long, and nearly one hundred feet in height ; and 
the pinnacle of the central dome towers one hun- 
dred and fifty feet above the level of the terrace. 
Tlie facade, four stories high, has magnificent bal- 
conies of carved stone. The whole building is of 
granite, and constructed upon a vaulted terrace, 
the arches of which are forty feet high. The first 
and second stories have no court-yard, but the 
rooms of the third and fourth run around a ter- 
race, while on a level with the second, in the 



Birsing-Deo. 229 

middle of this court-yard rises a square tower 
divided into four stories. This tower supports the 
central dome, and contains the rooms designed 
especially for the private apartments of the 
king.* One can see in all these details the con- 
stant fear of assassination under which these 
Indian Princes live, even in times of peace, and 
the wonderful ingenuity displayed in constructing 
the means of warding off danger. Everything is 
massive and strong, displaying the great genius of 
King Birsing Deo, and the guilty fears that beset 
the notorious Bourdilas^ whose very name has 
become legendary. The enormous proportions of 
this feudal castle unfit it for ordinary occupancy, 
especially for so small a court as that of Duttiah ; 
but in case of a siege, quite a large garrison could 
be accommodated here, and the king could remain 
in his own special apartments with all his usual 
belongings, and even his ordinary privacy, with 
his own family about him, and surrounded on all 
sides by his soldiers and guards, having thus the 
security without the publicity of life in an ordi- 
nary fort. 

* See India and its Native Princes, p. 319, iroxa. which the above is con- 
densed. 



230 Provinces and People, 

On the south of the city is the palace in present 
use — a large, many-storied edifice, built in a 
mixed style of architecture. In front of the pal- 
ace is a reservoir, with & fine fountain, around 
which eight sculptured elephants continually spout 
forth copious streams of clear water. 

The town has an excellent college, founded by 
the present sovereign, giving instruction to a hun- 
dred non-resident students in Persian, Oorchoo, 
and English, besides the ordinary course in Hindus- 
tanee. The Professors belong to the Benares 
University ; and the college has the reputation of 
being well-conducted, and the discipline excellent. 

Six miles northwest of Duttiah, is Mount Son- 
naghur, the " Golden Mount," a noted place of 
pilgrimage for the Jains of Central India. Son- 
naghur is the last of a small chain of hills, about 
one hundred and fifty feet liigh, that rise out of a 
vast plain. The hills form pyramids of huge 
blocks of granite, some of which stand upright, 
and are worshipped by the people as natural lin- 
gams. A little village runs around the base of the 
rock, but the sides and summits of every hill are 
crowned with temples of picturesque beauty. 
There are about eighty in all, some of which are 




PERSIANS IN BOMBAY 



Dholepore, 233 

supposed to date back to the thirteenth century, 
and the most modern to the sixteenth. 

From a distance the temples seem piled one 
upon another, and some hanging, as it were, over 
the precipice, while at other points the rocks seem 
suspended above the temples and ready to fall and 
crush them. The scene is all the more grand that 
there is not a tree or shrub anywhere in the vicin- 
ity — nothing to break the solemn grandeur of the 
imposing view. 

The precise date of the founding of the native 
state of Dholepore is uncertain ; though it is 
known that during the ninth century a Rajput 
Prince, named Dhaula, established himself on the 
banks of the Chumbul and built a fortress that 
was surrendered to Baber in 1526. 

By the treaty of 1806, between the Maharajah 
of Dholepore and the English, it was agreed that 
the king should retain absolute authority over his 
own territory, free from all right of intervention 
on the part of the English. 

Dholepore, the capital, has about forty thousand 
inhabitants ; though from frequent inundations of 
the river, and from the casualties of war, the city 
has somewhat declined during the past few years. 



234 Provinces and People. 

The city is about tliirty-six miles from Agra. It 
contains in addition to the Maharajah's palace, a 
Mohammedan Mosque, and several temples that 
are worthy of notice. The Mosque, erected by 
Shah-Jehan in 1634, is built of red sandstone, and 
of exquisite workmanship. It is surrounded by 
an extensive Mussulman Cemetery, that contains 
the Mausoleum, a verj^ marvel of beauty, erected 
in memory of a Sayud missionary. The sacred 
lake of Muchkounder lies hidden among the moun- 
tains about two miles from the town. According 
to the legend, it was created by the god Krishna 
to reward the hero Monchou, who had saved the 
god's life, and for this reason is held in great ven- 
eration by the Krishnayas. 

The present Maharajah, who received the Prince 
of Wales with such empressem^ent^ is spoken of as 
"a charming boy, who speaks English well, and 
delights in manly sports ; and became at once the 
friend of the Prince, who took to him greatly." 
He furnished a grand Sowaree on the occasion of 
the Prince's visit, and a handsome dejeuner to the 
Europeans. This is the young grandson of the 
genial old prince, Maharajah Rana Bagwan Singh, 
who entertained M. Rousselet and his suite so 



Rana Bagwan Singh. 235 

kindly in 1866, and whom he describes as having a 
gentle, manly expression of countenance, and as 
wearing a steel helmet attached to a narrow circle 
of gold, and covered with shining emeralds, while 
from his breastplate depended " innumerable chains 
composed of pearls and diamonds." * This much- 
adorned prince was so highly esteemed by his 
subjects, that they bestowed on him the appel- 
lation of the " Friend of his people." 

Leaving the town of Dholepore, before reaching 
the extreme border of the state, Nourabad comes 
in view, opposite to which an old Hindu bridge 
spans the river Sauk. It is built of solid granite 
supported b}^ seven pointed arches, and is said to 
have been erected in the sixteenth century by a 
society of philanthropic beggars, who obtained the 
money by selling consecrated oils from village to 
village. Its name, Tali-ka-paul^ "Bridge of Oil 
merchants," seems to give confirmation to the 
tradition. 

Nourabad was, in the days of the Padishas, a 
town of note and capital of one of the provinces 
of North Malwar. The high walls, defended by 
square towers and superb monumental gates, are 

* Native Princes of India, page 397. 



236 Provinces and People, 

still standing ; and it contains a palace built by 
Aurungzebe and the Mausoleum of the celebrated 
Gonna Begum, who was the author of the famous 
" Taza-bi-Taza," and other poems of the last cent- 
ury. 

The English high-road from Dholepore crosses 
the Chumbul by a bridge of boats into Gwalior, 
the territory of the powerful Maharajah Scindia. 



CHAPTER VL 



GWALIOR AND SCINDIA. 



ANCIENT Gwalior had its fortress on the 
summit of an isolated rock, three hundred 
and forty feet high, two miles long, and three hun- 
dred yards at its greatest breadth. The great 
citadel stands as a sentinel at the entrance of the 
yalley, and tradition places the founding at several 
centuries before our era. In 773, Rajah Sourya 
Sena strengthened the fortress by constructing the 
ramparts. The Kachwas held the fortress till 
967 ; the Chohans to 1196, when it fell into the 
hands of Shahib-u-din, and in 1234, into those of 
the Emperor Altamsh. The Touar Rajputs be- 
came its masters in 1410 ; in 1519, it was annexed 
to the crown of Delhi, by Ibrahim Lodi ; and at 

the dismemberment of the Mogul Empire it fell 

237 



2B8 (jrwalior and Scindia, 

alternately into the hands of Jats and Mahrattas. 
After 1779, it suffered various vicissitudes ; but 
in 1805 it was restored to the Scindias by treaty. 
Then followed half a century of comparative 
peace, and the Fortress itself has remained in the 
hands of its lawful owners. But in 1857, the 
Maharajah Scindia refusing to aid in the Seapoy 
mutiny, the fort was attacked by one of Nena 
Sahib's detachments, and fell temporarily into 
their hands ; but General Rose at once dislodged 
the enemy by planting his batteries on the sur- 
rounding heights. The attachment of Scindia to 
the British came very near costing him his throne, 
and he afterwards lost prestige among his own 
people by the discovery and surrender of a sup- 
positious Nena Sahib, heir in their eyes of the 
Peishwa. Yet, under the pretext of protecting 
the young Prince from future outbreaks of his re- 
bellious subjects, the English have ever since 
retained possession of the plateau. By the admis- 
sion of the English themselves, there is no ques- 
tion that Lord Canning promised, in 1859, to 
restore it to its rightful lord ; but the plea of to- 
day for the non-fulfilment of the pledge, is that 
" Lord Canning did not promise to restore it at 




A PARSEE MERCHANT AT BOMBAY. 



Maharajah Scindia. 241 

onee^ but only that the plateau should be 
yielded up at some convenient season.'' This 
seems but shallow reasoning, if those on the inr 
terested side are to be the sole judges of the con- 
veniency. But they overcome all scruples by 
maintaining that " it is very useful to Scindia to 
have a British garrison where he can be protected 
against the revolt of his own army and subjects." 
The real solution of the enigma is no doubt that 
the Maharajah Scindia is one of the cases that 
present formidable dif&culties in the way of the 
Anglo-Indian Empire. The Prince delights in 
soldiering, and good judges in the English army 
say they have few men in their own service, " who 
could put a Division of the three arms through a 
good field-day so well as Scindia does." His 
" Review," before the Prince of Wales, when, 
robed in scarlet and gold he rode at the head of 
a " truly brilliant staff," was pronounced " a grand 
success ; " and so powerful a ruler, with these 
martial tendencies, and abundant leisure for brood- 
ing and planning, must be, in his devotion to 
" drilling and manoeuvering," more or less cause of 
anxiety to the " Paramount Power." The admin- 
istration of the government in this State is greatly 



242 (xwalior and Scindia. 

superior to that of the majority of Indian States, 
owing largely, no doubt, to the wise counsels of 
Sir Dinkur Rao, a dignified, courteous, far-seeing 
statesman, who w^as at the helm of state during 
the minority of the Prince; and probably in an 
equal degree to the noble character of the present 
Maharajah himself. This nobleness may be in- 
ferred from his answer, when the Bombay Gov- 
ernment desired to buy the site for the Palace of 
Gunnesh Khind. '• A man," was the lordly reply, 
" does not sell his patrimony, but he can give it to 
Ms friend. ^^ 

The counsels of Sir Dinkur Rao may have had 
an influence in Scindia's decision to withhold his 
powerful aid from the rebels; and it is possible 
that the Maharajah thus preserved the independ- 
ence of his kingdom. It is almost certain that the 
cause of the English was saved at a very critical 
juncture by the course of Scindia and his Minister. 

The English rewarded the service of the latter 
by conferring on him the order of knighthood ; to 
the former, it w^as repaid by the unjust retention 
of his fort, which he lost solely by refusing to join 
hands with the foes of England in the hour of her 
extremest need. Despite all this, the Maharajah 



Town of Crwalior. 243 

Scindia maintains in his own realm a truly regal 
sway, while he disports a genuine royalty that is of 
himself and not of his surroundings. 

The present town of Gwalior extends to the 
north and east of the fortress between the Rock 
and the river Sawunrika. It was a large and 
handsome settlement with some thirty or forty 
thousand inhabitants ; but the founding of a new 
capital by the Scindias, two miles off, checked the 
growth of Gwalior, and attracted not only the 
nobility, but the higher classes of trade to the 
court of Lashkar. The architecture of the houses 
of Gwalior is good, but the streets are narrow, 
and there is but one monument of an earlier date 
than the sixteenth century. The two most noted 
are the Jumma Musjid, a handsome mosque flanked 
by two lofty minarets, and the Hatti Durwaza, 
" Gate of Elephants," a curious, triumphal arch, 
situated on a mound at the entrance of the town. 
Hidden among the trees, at a short distance from 
the fortress, is a large palace, the exterior of which 
is adorned with bright blue enamel ; and its fine 
monumental gates, still guarded with portcullis 
and iron doors, defend the entrances to the fort- 
ress. From one of these there is a superb tri- 



244 Grwalior and Scindia. 

■amphal arch; and there are monuments, bas- 
reliefs, cisterns, and caverns, while the very rocks 
contain chambers, altars, and statues innumerable. 
Opposite the fourth gate there is a monolith, sup- 
posed to date back to the fifteenth century, an 
elegant temple cut out of a single block of stone, 
and crowned with a superb pyramidal spire. The 
" King Pal " Palace, with its six massive towers, 
all adorned with balconies and pilasters, its Ja'in 
arches and sculptured bands, its blue and rose 
enamels, and exquisite mosaics, is a very wonder 
of beauty and strength ; and standing on the 
utmost verge of the precipice, a gigantic union of 
rampart and palace. 

The Scindias are of a powerful Mahratta family 
of husbandmen, of the Sudra caste, of the prov- 
ince of Satara. The first who carried arms and 
rescued their name from obscurity was Ranaji 
Scindia who, about the year 1725, went to the 
court of Poonah, and obtained the important post 
of slipper-bearer to the Peishwa. One day, while 
the Peishwa was detained longer than usual, his 
slipper-bearer fell asleep from very weariness of 
waiting, and when, at the conclusion of the audi- 
ence, the Peishwa looked for his slippers, he found 




A HINDOO TEMPLE IN THE BLACK TOWN, BOMBAY. 



The Sleepy Slipper-hearer, 247 

Ranaji fast asleep with the slippers clasped tightly 
to his bosom. The Peishwa was so touched with 
this proof of devotion that he at once raised 
Scindia to the highest office in his gift. Ranaji 
had the wisdom and tact to profit by his good 
fortune, and so to make use of his daily increasing 
influence that he became ere long one of the 
most popular leaders of the Mahratta troops ; and 
at his death, he left a vast kingdom in the heart of 
Malwa to his son Mahaji. At the terrible battle 
of Paniput, 1T61, Mahaji fell, wounded by an axe, 
and was left among the dead. Ultimately, he was 
picked up by a water-carrier and taken to the 
De<3can ; and later, on his return to the court of 
Poonah, Scindia was again entrusted with the 
administration of the government. With true 
patriotism he devoted himself to the public ser- 
vice, using all the power he acquired for the benefit 
of the country, respecting its institutions, and re- 
jecting all overtures from the English, by whom 
he was accredited as sovereign of Malwa and 
Doab. His death occurring in 1794, he was suc- 
ceeded by his nephew, Daolut Rao Scindia, an 
energetic and promising youth of thirteen, who, with 
consummate skill in the disposition of his forces, 



248 Gwalior and Scindia. 

extended his domiuion to the Punjaub ; and 
havmg obtained possession of the person of the 
Padisha, kept him in retirement, on a comfort- 
able pension, while he himself replaced the deposed 
sovereign. He was the determined foe of the 
Anglo-Indian rule, and he put forth diligent 
effort to transform his undisciplined troopers into 
an army capable of contesting the advances of the 
English. His expeditions into the Deccan having 
brought him in contact with several French adven- 
turers, the remnants of General Lattry's army, 
their services were secured, and through their aid, 
the Mahratta troops w^ere rapidly re-organized and 
fitted for effective service. For a time the Eng- 
lish were often defeated by these well-organized 
battalions of Mahrattas, who were brave as lions, 
and had only needed disciplined officers to guide 
their movements to render them almost invincible. 
But unfortunately for them. Perron, one of their 
best officers, swayed by private interest, accepted 
the overtures of Wellington (then Sir Arthur 
Wellesley), and retired to private life with a 
handsome fortune. Another, Bourquien, was 
defeated at Delhi and made prisoner ; and thus 
deprived of the valuable aid of his officers, Daolut^ 



Scindia Conquered. 249 

Rao was completely overpowered at the battle of 
Lasswari in November 1803,»and compelled to 
negotiate for peace with the promise to dismiss all 
his French officers, and never again to reinstate 
them in his army. Other defeats following, in 
1818, Scindia agreed to a final treaty of peace with 
the English, whereby he relinquished his possession 
of Delhi and the Padisha, and agreed to retire 
with his forces beyond the Chumbnl, and to allow 
the English to form two camps of occupation 
within his territory. Dankhaji, Daolut's successor, 
dying in 1843, without issue, quarrels concerning 
the succession followed, but by the intervention 
of the English, after two hard-fought battles, the 
nephew of Dankhaji was seated on the throne, 
and the succession established in this branch of 
the family. 

The territories of Scindia now extend from the 
Chumbul to the Satpura Mountains, an area of 
about thirty-three thousand miles, including West- 
ern Malwa, part of Bundelcund, of Haracouti, 
and of Omultwara. The population is estimated 
variously at from five to seven millions, but in the 
absence of a regular census it is difficult to deter- 
mine precisely the real number. The present 



250 Grwalior and Schidia. 

capital is Gwaliorka Laslikar, or the " Camp of 
Gwalior " — its ntoe agreeing well with the 
origin of this new city. When Mahaji invaded 
this portion of India he established his head- 
quarters two miles from Gwalior, and wishing to 
maintain his Mahrattas in active service, and to 
prevent any intercourse between them and the 
conquered people, he formed a permanent camp on 
the spot where he himself lived under canvas 
among his followers. This camp became his cap- 
ital, whence his hordes of soldiers made plundering 
tours over all the surrounding country, returning 
occasionally to camp, where they remained during 
the rains. Little by little the tents were replaced 
by houses, where the soldiers lived surrounded by 
their families, bazaars sprang up, the king's tent 
was transformed into a royal palace, and the camp 
became a town. Although still called " Lashkar," 
it is one of the most splendid cities in India, with 
a population of full three hundred thousand. 
The fort is separated from the new capital by a 
plain, bounded by a picturesque range of hills 
consecrated to the monkey-god Hunouman, and 
the entrance to the suburb of the Satti G-hati or 
" Broken Mountain." The name seems to indicate 



An Indian Elysium, 253 

the deep cut through the mountain that forms the 
road between the suburb and the town. This 
suburb is composed of the loveliest of Indian 
villas, the summer residences of the nobles of 
Scindia's court — a perfect Elysium wreathed in 
orange and myrtle, the air redolent with delicious 
perfumes, and vocal with the sweet songs of a 
thousand birds. The town contains the old palace 
of the Scindias, a vast group of buildings in the 
style of Digh; and the new palace built by the 
present king, in a mixed style of Hindu and Ital- 
ian architecture which is less pretty than the old ; 
but within, everything is superbly beautiful, large, 
airy, well-ventilated apartments, with sculptures, 
frescoes and hangings, pictures, mirrors and furni- 
ture faultless and exquisitely lovely. Upwards 
of three hundred thousand leaves of gold were 
used in decorating the reception-rooms ; and the 
grand dining-room, said to be one of the finest 
saloons in the world, has chandeliers of wondrous 
beauty and most unique design, and the walls are 
lined with immense mirrors of exquisite workman- 
ship. The bedstead, washing service, and bath of 
the prince are all of solid silver, as are also all the 
lamps of the private apartments. 



254 Givalior and Scindia. 

The old palace of the kings of Gwalior covers 
an immense area on the east of the plateau. It is 
not the work of any one prince or dynasty, but has 
been added to by each from the time of the six- 
teenth century. 

The temple of Adinath is an unusualty fine 
specimen of the old Ja'in architecture of the six- 
teenth century, similar to the ancient sanctuaries 
of Mount Aboo ; and many of the superb ara- 
besques that adorn the pillars are cut in the pol- 
ished stone with wonderful effect. 

The great Cihara temple, standing in the centre 
of the plateau, must have been Buddhist at the 
first, as there is still discernible against the wall 
in the large apartment on the ground floor the 
outline of a gigantic statue of Buddh, showing 
where it stood against the wall. It is probable, 
however, that the Ja'ins took possession of the 
temple and devoted it to their own worship after 
the expulsion of the Buddhists from India. From 
this point extend the long line of English barracks 
which, neat, orderly and well-kept as they unques- 
tionably are, must be a terrible source of annoy- 
ance to the Maharajah, and a perpetual reminder 
of the broken faith of his allies. Possibly these 



Attar of Roses. 255 

associations and the foundation upon which they 
rest may account for the sad, far-away look of the 
eyes, and the almost melancholy expression about 
the whole face of this noble prince, giving the 
features when in repose an older look than their 
forty years would warrant. But it is a noble, 
princely face withal, and replete, as is every gest- 
ure and attitude, with a dignity truly royal. 

The ceremony of attar and pan^ that always 
concludes an Indian " Durbar," i. e., a full-dress 
reception given by a sovereign or personage of 
exalted rank — is, at this court performed with 
more than the ordinary expenditure of royal mu- 
nificence. Each guest receives a dainty handker-; 
chief of delicately embroidered India muslin, 
which he places folded on the palm of his right 
hand; then the Maharajah rises, and going for- 
ward to each in turn, pours attar of roses on the 
handkerchief, and presents the visitor with betel- 
nut, eerie-leaves and cardamoms ; at the same time 
throwing about the neck a garland of jessamine or 
tube roses fastened with a string of small pearls. 

It is only to European visitors and to natives of 
the very highest rank that an Indian Maharajah 
performs this ceremony in person, while others of 



256 Crwalior and Scindia. 

less exalted position are waited on by one of the 
ministers. 

A single example will suffice to show the method 
of governing adopted by the native princes of 
India in the olden times, before the advent of 
British rule. Meywar is one of the grandest of 
the native states, having for its capital, Oudey- 
pore, " City of the Rising Sun," and for its sover- 
eign the Maharana, who is the recognized repre- 
sentative of the famous Indian " Race of the 
Sun," and acknowledged by all the Rajput Princes 
as the head of their nation. Yet, in this very 
kingdom of Meywar there has always existed a 
Feudal Council composed of sixteen Rcios or 
Dukes, whose influence and authority is so power- 
ful as almost to nullify the kingly prerogative, or to 
render the power of the sovereign little more than 
nominal. These Raos^ who are usually descend- 
ants of the Royal family, have the kingdom divided 
among themselves into large fiefs entirely inde- 
pendent of each other, and, to a great extent, of 
the general government. Each governs in his own 
capital after his own will, rarely visiting Oudey- 
pore and still more rarely referring any decision to 
the Maharana — not opposing his authority, but 




PARSEE LADY AND HER DAUGHTER. 



A Feudal Council. 259 

almost ignoring it. The chief of these Dukes or 
Feudal Lords is the Rao of Baidlah who, govern- 
ing a large territory and having his capital near to 
Oudeypore, is a frequent visitor of the Maharana, 
presenting himself at the court without previous 
announcement, and without any humiliating cere- 
mony, but always with dignity and deference to 
the king. The present Rao, a fine-looking old 
courtier, is both genial and politic, living on ex- 
cellent terms with his Prince, and at the same 
time maintaining kindly relations with the Eng- 
lish Government. He very evidently favors the 
introduction of European commerce and improve- 
ments, but declines to abate one tittle of the 
splendor or ancient routine of the court of Oudey- 
pore, or one tittle of the deference due to his Sov- 
ereign from the " outside world," or to the feudal 
rights of the nobles. He is, nevertheless, in high 
favor with Queen Victoria, who presented to him 
a magnificent jewelled sword in return for the 
protection and support he afforded to European 
fugitives from Indore and Neemuch during the 
mutiny of 1857. It was due mainly to his influ- 
ence that they were protected in the little island 
of Jugmunder, and for so many months were fur- 



260 Crwalior and Scindia, 

nislied with all needed supplies at the expense of the 
Oudeypore Government. He belongs to the tribe of 
the Chohans, and enjoys several rather curious pre- 
rogatives, the strangest of which is, that all the in- 
signia of royalty are sent to him at Baidlah on the 
third of the month of Samvatsiri, when, having 
donned the regal paraphernalia, he goes in state, 
attended with all the pomp and parade of a sover- 
eign, to visit the Rana, who, in person receives the 
illustrious guest at the *door and conducts him 
within. A few hours later, he comes forth, and 
returns to his own feudal palace, personating no 
longer the Rana, but once more occupying his own 
position as Rao of Baidlah. 

Most native prisons are clean, comfortable and 
well-kept. The superintendent lives on the prem- 
ises in a separate building ; and the prisoners are 
lodged under great sheds, where they sleep on the 
floor in lines of fifty or more. Their chains are 
fastened at night to long iron bars that run the 
entire length of the halls; but the shackles are 
riveted only to one ankle. The chain is seldom 
heavy, except where the prisoner has attempted to 
escape and been recaptured ; and the length is 
sufficient to permit running and lying down with 



Native Prisons, 261 

ease. There is no special uniform for convicts, 
but each man wears the clothes he happened to 
have on when first brought to the prison. Scru- 
ples of caste are carefully respected, every man re- 
ceiving his food raw, and preparing it himself, for 
which purpose he is permitted to light a fire and 
draw water at option. Prisoners are generally 
employed in making roads, and keeping them in 
repair ; but they work only a few hours daily, and 
are not under strict surveillance. Severe punish- 
ments are seldom inflicted under native officers, 
except in cases of extreme aggravation. 



CHAPTER VII. 



CLIMATE AND SOIL. 



EXTENDING over so vast a region, there is 
of course great diversity of climate and 
productions in the different sections of India. 
The Monsoons, or periodical Trade Winds, also 
exert a decided influence on temperature, more 
especially near the coast. The Northeast Monsoon 
commences about the middle of November, and 
the Southwest, towards the middle of May, though 
the time varies somewhat in different latitudes ^ 
and the change of the Monsoon is nearly always 
attended by stormy weather, sometimes by fright- 
ful hurricanes and destructive tornadoes. The 
seasons are three in number ; hot, rainy, and cold. 
The temperature of respective localities is mod- 
ified, not only by latitude but by local surround- 

262 



Seasons, 265 

ings; but after making due allowance for these 
causes, the hottest months all through India will 
be March, April, May and June. Then follow 
the rains, from June 15th to October 15th, when 
the showers fall heavy and fast' for part, at least, of 
every day, and sometimes for many days together, 
without intermission, till the low lands are covered 
with water, and the roads in some localities utterly 
impassable. In other places, fields and meadows, 
before parched and drj^, are clothed in emerald- 
green, shrubs and flowers assume brighter tints, 
and all nature, vegetable and animal, looks re- 
freshed and revivified by this welcome change from 
the long, hot, sweltering days of the exhaust- 
ing summer. About the middle of October the 
rains subside, the atmosphere clears, and a pure, 
cool (not cold), salubrious temperature succeeds. 
This is, to Europeans, the pleasantest time of all 
the year, and the most healthful. But orientals, as 
a rule, prefer the hot months, and seem glad when 
the " cold season," as they call it, is over. Thus 
every year, for eight months, the sun shines stead- 
ily, with rarely a shadow across his cheery face; 
and then for four months the rain falls without 
" let or hindrance." Yet a beneficent Father has 



266 Climate and Soil, 

provided an antidote for what seems to us in tem- 
perate latitudes a ruinous drought, during those 
eight rainless months. The dews all over South- 
ern Asia are very heavy, not only diminishing the 
heat, but greatly refreshing vegetation and per- 
fecting growth, that must otherwise have been 
stunted and blasted by excessive heat. 

In Jeypore, and some other portions of the Raj- 
put territory where the lands are hilly and broken, 
the seasons are more decided than in Southern 
India. The winters are so cold that the thermom- 
eter falls often to zero in the early morning hours, 
during the month of January, while the summers 
are dry and hot. In March, the hot winds, the 
great scourge of Upper India, begin to blow, the 
season being ushered in by storms of sand carried 
along with such violence as to do great damage, 
especially in the province of Malwa and the Jat 
country. The heavens are overcast by pale yel- 
low clouds, charged with sand and vapor, that in 
falling are unpleasant beyond measure. These 
storms are succeeded by hot winds from the west, 
their heat being still more increased by their pass- 
ing for hundreds of miles over the burning sands 
of Persia and Beloochistan. Such is the intense 



The Madras Climate, 267 

heat of these winds, that during their prevalence 
the ground becomes parched, trees cast their 
leaves, and vegetation is completely at a stand. 
At Madras, this hot wind prevails during the 
months of April and May. Sweeping over the 
Western Ghauts, it deposits there its moisture, 
and crossing the burning plains of Mysore and the 
Carnatic, it reaches the eastern shore of Southern 
India so dry and heated as to be almost as unen- 
durable as the air from an open furnace. Animal 
and vegetable nature wilt beneath its influence, 
and Europeans, or those who have come from 
colder lands, shrink from this sirocco within the 
shelter of their houses where every window and 
door facing the west must be carefully closed, and 
covered with thick mats. These are kept con- 
stantly wet, day and night, by coolies who stand 
with buckets of water, and every half-hour give 
the mats a thorough drenching from ceiling to 
floor. As the result of the wind being brought in 
contact with the mass of wet matting, it loses a 
portion of its heat, and the surrounding air is 
renewed and freshened. Without these precau- 
tions it would be impossible for foreigners to live 
in an atmosphere, exposed to which, flowers in 



268 Climate and Soil, 

vases will turn black and crisp, as from the effects 
of fire ; the covers of pamphlets curl up, and the 
face of furniture becomes so heated that one can 
scarcely bear his hand upon it. Happily, these 
winds are intermittent, blowing only for a few 
weeks at a time, and then there is a brief interval 
of less exhaustive heat, after which the hot 
winds again prevail, and so on until about the 
middle of June, when the blessed rain begins 
to descend, giving new life and vigor to every- 
thing that lives and breathes. One or two heavy 
storms change the whole aspect of nature — the 
sand disappears beneath a luxuriant carpet of em- 
erald grass, bright flowers dot the meadows where 
shortly before they would have been parched with 
heat, and trees are clothed in verdure that will 
be quickly followed by blossoms and ripe fruit. 

But India is withal a good land to dwell in — fer- 
tile, productive and healthful to those accustomed to 
the heat, yielding freely, and with comparatively 
little labor, an abundance of the good things 
needed to sustain life and supply all the wants of 
its teeming millions. This was eminently true, 
with only very rare exceptions, in the former times, 
before the advent of British power in India ; and 






> 
n 

l-H 

o 




Famines, 271 

that days of plenty liaye, so frequently of late 
years been supplanted by frightful and oft-repeated 
famines, seems due, not to the country itself, nor 
to its native inhabitants, but to three items of 
mismanagement on the part of its foreign custo- 
dians. The first of these is the' enforced culture 
of opium, taking up extensive tracts of the best 
lands that might otherwise be devoted to the 
growth of breadstuffs, and supply food to thous- 
ands of those who annually perish from famine. 
Much additional land has been occupied by the 
English in the construction of railways for their 
own accommodation, in conveying troops from 
point to point, erecting extensive military barracks, 
forts and arsenals, and the building of palatial 
Government Houses, Residences and Villas with 
extensive Parks and Gardens, thus still more 
diminishing the area of " bread-lands " and the 
consequent resources of the people. The second 
cause of destitution is found in the excessive tax- 
ation, that keeps the laboring classes, cultivators 
especialh', so ground down by poverty, that they 
can barely live in times of plenty, and, having 
absolutely nothing laid by with which to purchase 
redemption from death when th^ famine is upon 



272 Climate and Soil, 

them, they have no alternative but to die of starva- 
tion. The third cause is the .lack of sufficient irri- 
gation, which England might surely afford to 
supply in return for all the territory and treasure 
she has appropriated in that fair land. Despite 
the injustice of the compulsory cultivation of 
opium, and the large tracts of land thus perverted 
from their legitimate use, it is believed by com- 
petent judges that with such irrigation as could be 
readily supplied, this broad land might still be 
made to furnish abundant sustenance for all its 
people. But impoverished as the masses are, this 
great work of irrigation could never be done by 
the tax-payers, and must, if accomplished at all, be 
the work of those who appropriate the immense 
revenues of the Indian Empire. One who was 
upon the ground at the time, states that " The en- 
hancement of the land-tax in 1874 and 1875 
resulted, in the three CoUectorals of Sholopore, 
Poonah, and Satara alone, in more than forty 
thousand evictions in a single year! What wonder 
that the famine of 1876 and 1877 raged with 
most severity in the Sholopore Collectorate, where 
most of these evictions took place." 

Of the warmer portions of India, rice, which is 



% 
Productions, 273 

the common food of the people, is the staple prod- 
uct; but wheat, barley, millet, buckwheat and 
maize are all extensively cultivated in different 
sections of the land. During the past few years, 
India has become one of the largest wheat-growing 
countries in the world, and it is believed, that with 
the completion of the Indus Railway the price of 
transportation will be sufficiently reduced to en- 
courage a very extensive exportation of wheat 
from the Punjaub. Cotton, sugar, indigo and 
tobacco yield abundant returns in many parts ; 
esculents and kitchen vegetables are varied and 
abundant, and fruits of both tropic and temperate 
latitudes flourish in the several sections. Among 
the specialties of India, there is one found in the 
Cashmere Valley not common elsewhere. This is 
the Singhara or Water-nut (tra-pa-his-pinosa) of 
which roore than sixty thousand tons are annually 
gathered from the Wutter Lake. This nut, though 
rather insipid, is considered very nutritious, and 
thousands of Cashmerians subsist on it entirely. 
The nut is usually ground and made either into 
paste, or baked in leaves. It is also eaten boiled 
or roasted. Experiments prove that very many of 
the European vegetables will grow readily and 





274 Qlimate and Soil. 

well on Indian soil by irrigation. Thus far, how- 
ever, they have been cultivated only by the native 
nobles and by the English, and they can rarely be 
purchased either in the bazaars or from the farmers. 
The potato seems, of all that have been tried, the 
most difficult to acclimate ; and except on the 
Neilgherries, the Ghauts, and the abutments of the 
Himalayas, the potato growth has proved a fail- 
ure. The lack of accustomed vegetables, and of 
the light-raised bread that constitutes so impor- 
tant an article of diet at home, not only interferes 
with the comfort of foreign travellers in India, 
but is also a fruitful source of ill-health, especially 
to the unacclimated stranger. There is, however, 
considerable compensation found in the abundance, 
variety and excellent quality of the fruits, of 
which many varieties, ripe, luscious and freshly- 
gathered may be placed on the board every day in 
the year. 

India has also its vegetable curiosities, both of 
fruits and trees. The Cashew nut — anacardium 
occidentale — is an out-branching tree, seldom more 
than fifteen or sixteen feet high, and in appearance 
somewhat resembling the walnut tree, with large, 
oval, blunt, alternate leaves, and a fragrant, rose- 



Trees and Fruits, 275 

colored flower. The fruit is pear-shaped, and its 
curious feature is a crescent or kidney-shaped nut 
growing on the end, outside of the fruit where it 
looks odd enough in its grave coat of russet-brown. 
The fruit itself has a pretty, pinkish tinge, and an 
acid, though rather agreeable taste. The nuts, 
roasted, are both palatable and nutritious. 

The Banian, ficus Indica, is the king of the 
Indian forests, a stately, royal-looking patriarch, 
that stands in hoary grandeur, surrounded by his 
descendants of three and four centuries old. It 
has the faculty of throwing off from its branches 
supplementary roots that grow very rapidly up- 
ward and soon become in their turn stems for the 
support of the parent branches, thus extending 
wider and wider their domain. The Indians have 
a legend that it was from a Banian in the garden 
of Eden that our first parents " gathered fig-leaves 
and made themselves aprons," and that it was also 
a Banian that gave them their first idea of con- 
structing houses for habitation. 

This tree produces small figs that grow in 
bunches on the stems and branches. Small fruit 
for so huge a tree. But this seems one of the 
peculiarities of the trees of the tropics. The 



27S Climate and Soil. 

lovely tamarind tree that grows to fully a hundred 
feet in height, and fifteen feet in circumference, 
with branches widely extended, has a dense foliage 
of bright green, composite leaves, in form and 
size nearly resembling the little sensitive plant. 
The flowers also are small, hanging in golden-hued 
clusters, veined with scarlet, and the fruit is in 
pods, like beans, three or four inches in length. 
Near the village of Rataupee, on the banks of the 
Nerbudda, is the famous Kahirahar^ the oldest and 
largest Banian in India. The Hindu tradition is, 
that it was planted by the sage Kabira before the 
Christian era. By the continual increase of its 
branches, shooting downwards and sending forth 
new stems, it had grown to cover an area of more 
than a thousand 5"ards ir circumference. Dur- 
ing the first decade of the present century this 
great tree was seriously injured by a hurricane, 
and though gradually recovering, it does not yet 
cover more than a circuit of seven hundred yards. 
The central trunk has long ago disappeared, and 
the vacancy is filled by a picturesque little temple. 
Miss Britain, of Calcutta, while on a recent visit 
to an ancient temple in Allahabad, saw, in a dark 
corner of a grotto under ground, a pepul tree 



A Useful Tree, 279 

which has been growing for hundreds of years in 
utter darkness. The leaves of this pepul are per- 
fectly white, frosted with the centuries, and rising 
as an imperial crown above its hoary head. 

The Mhowah or Mahwah, cassia-latifolia^ is 
one of the most important trees of the Indian 
forest. It has a straight trunk of immense diam- 
eter, its branches are raised gracefully like the 
sconces of a candelabra, and its dark green foliage 
is spread out in successive stories, casting a thick 
shade all about the tree. Towards the end of 
February its leaves fall quite suddenly, leaving 
the tree completely bare. These leaves are gath- 
ered, and used for bedding, roofing, and caps or 
hats. A few daj^s after the shedding of the leaves 
the candelabras fill rapidly with masses of flowers, 
looking like small, round fruit, and arranged in 
clusters. The petals, which are pale yellow, form 
a berry about as large as an ordinary grape, which 
leaves room for the stamen to pass through a 
small aperture, and when fully ripe these petals 
fall naturally. The Indians only remove the 
brush-wood from around the tree, and every 
evening the fallen flowers form a thick bed which 
is carefully collected. This shower continues for 



280 Climate and Soil, 

several days, a single tree yielding an average 
weight of one hundred and twenty-five pounds of 
flowers each year. These flowers are the manna 
of the jungle, and their greater or less abundance 
decides the famine or plenty of the region. When 
fresh they have rather a pleasant taste, and the 
natives consume great quantities in this state. 
They also make them into cakes, and into quite a 
variety of dishes. But the larger portion is dried 
and laid by for use during the year till the coming of 
the next crop ; and after having been cured, the blos- 
soms are ground into flour, that is baked in loaves 
or cakes. By fermentation the Mhowah flowers 
produce a pleasant wine ; by distillation a strong 
brandy, and of the residue, good vinegar is made. 
When the flowers have disappeared the leaves re- 
turn, and rapidly cover the tree again ; and in 
April the fruit comes to replace the flowers. The 
fruit is almond-shaped, with a violet-colored shell 
covering a smooth, hard envelope, that contains a 
delicate almond, pure white and very luscious. 
These nuts are used for cakes, and eaten also in 
form of paste ; and by pressure they make an ex- 
cellent oil, after which, the refuse serves for fatten- 
ing buffaloes. The bark of the tree yields woody 



The Mhowah. 281 

fibre, used for making ropes ; and the wood is val- 
uable for building, as it is one of the few species 
of timber that will resist the attacks of the white 
ant. The Ghounds, Bheels, Mhairs, and Minas 
regard this tree as equal to the gods ; they hold 
their solemn assemblies beneath its shade, where 
also, contracts, betrothals and marriages are ar-" 
ranged ; on its branches they suspend offerings 
and sacrifices ; and around its roots they spread 
those mysterious circles of stones that represent 
their objects of worship. They will fight desper- 
ately in defence of their Mhowahs ; and where 
these trees disappeared the Bheel and the Ghound 
are seen no more. This much-esteemed tree is 
occasionally cultivated in the plain, but it is indig- 
enous to the mountain regions. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE CASTE SYSTEM. 



CASTE, is a Portuguese word that is used by 
the Engiisli to express the meaning of the 
Hindu word Jathi^ the term applied by them to 
the distinction of classes or tribes among the 
jpindus, though they apply the same word to for- 
eigners, to distinguish between nations ; as the 
English Jathi, the Portuguese Jathi, and so on. 

The term Hindu, as applied by the natives, 
means not so much the people of Hindustan as it 
does the members of all the various sects who 
have adopted the sj^stem of castes, and jdeld to 
the supremacy of the Brahmins. Caste may be 
called the cement that binds together all these 
numerous sects and classes ; not merely separating 

each one from all others, but compacting the 

282 



Tlie Four Castes. 285 

whole, forming of dissimilar and uncongenial 
units an almost impregnable wall that closely 
binds together the whole Hindu people, but equally 
divides them from all the rest of the world. Prop-, 
erly speaking, there are but four castes ; and ac- 
cording to the Hindu Vedas^ these were ordained 
of the gods, while all outside of these are casteless 
or outcasts. The four divinely-instituted castes 
are, the Brahmin, the Kschatrya, the Vaishya, and 
the Sudra. On the same authority it is asserted 
that the Brahmins sprang from the head of the 
Creator Brahma, and having thus proceeded from 
his noblest part, they are by birth pre-eminent in 
dignity and holiness, and by right the priests and 
law-givers of the nation. 

The Ksehatryas^ having sprung from the shoul- 
ders of the god, are predestined to the kingly and 
military offices — to govern the nation and to do 
their fighting. 

The VaisJiyas^ who proceeded from the god's 
body, are to provide for the pecuniary support of 
the State, doing duty as merchants, and filling all 
the departments of trade. 

The Sudras sprang from the feet of Brahma, 
and being thus the lowest of all they must per- 



286 The Caste System. 

form all mechanical and servile labor for the 
higher castes, especially the Brahmins. 

Such was the divine decree, as promulgated by 
the Brahmins, who took care to appropriate to 
themselves the highest place ; and such was prob- 
ably the original system as practised at first. But 
the passing years have made great changes, the 
military and mercantile castes have almost disap- 
peared as distinct organizations, and the great 
division is now between the Brahmins and Soudras. 
But these have been divided and subdivided into 
a great many others, until it is commonly said, 
that there are eighteen high castes, and one hun- 
dred and eight low castes, each trade and calling 
having one of its own ; while a very large class, 
known as Pariahs^ or outcasts, have no caste at 
all. But even Pariahs have grades and distinc- 
tions of rank among themselves, of which they are 
just as tenacious as those recognized as their supe- 
riors caji possibly be of their own. Among the 
many subdivisions still maintained, at least in the 
letter, if not in the spirit of this wonderful sys- 
tem, the Brahmins have four sects, the Kschatryas 
three, the Yaishyas three, and the Soudras eighty- 
five, some of the last being again subdivided, as 



Division of Castes. 287 

the class of Soudras who cultivate the soil have 
no less than twenty distinct castes. So very rig- 
orous are these exactions of caste, that the chil- 
dren of a carpenter can marry only the offspring 
of other carpenters ; the sons of a washerman may 
seek wives only in the families of others of the 
same craft ; boatmen must marry boatmen's daugh- 
ters ; and so on through every vocation or busi- 
ness, high or low. Neither may a man change his 
calling, nor enter any other than that to which his 
ancestors belonged. If the father and grand- 
father have been syces or dhobis, or grass-cutters, 
^so perforce must be the sons to the latest genera- 
tion ; and there is no possibility of any rise in 
rank, or of bettering of the condition in life, except 
by losing caste ; and this system gives the death- 
blow to everything like " progress," and ambition 
to attain to higher wisdom or excellence than their 
forefathers. 

The Brahmins are the most powerful, as they 
are the most domineering and insolent of all the 
castes. Assuming to themselves the rights of 
gods, they relentlessly trample under foot those of 
all others. They dress altogether in white attire 
with marks of clay on their foreheads, arms, and 



288 The Caste System, 

bodies, and the poita or sacred cord over the shoul- 
der. They observe a strictly vegetable diet, and 
abstain not only from intoxicating drinks, but even 
from tobacco in every form. When the son of a 
Brahmin is twelve days old, a festival is held in 
honor of his naming; when six months of age, 
another feast marks the giving of his first meal of 
solid food, and a third season of rejoicing occurs 
when he is two years old, at which time his head 
is shaved, liis ears bored, his nails pared, and he is 
robed in a new style of garments. But the most 
important epoch in the life of a Brahmin, is when 
he is nine years of age. Then, amid feasting and ■ 
revelry, songs, shouts and rejoicings, he is invested 
with " the sacred cord," consisting of a hundred 
and eight threads, made of cotton, gathered and 
spun by Brahmins. The cord is worn over the 
left shoulder, and passes across the breast to the 
right hip. At the time of the investiture, the 
novice is taught the gayatri or Brahminical prayer, 
that no lips but those of a Brahmin may pro- 
nounce ; and the young heir being thereby in- 
stated in his legal rights, is thenceforth regarded 
as " twice born." 

For the other castes no special ceremonies are 




MEETING OF TRAVELLERS WITH THE MAHARAJAH OF 
CHUTTERPORE, 



Caste Organization. 291 

prescribed, as tliey are deemed so far inferior to 
the lordly Brahmins. But each caste has its sepa- 
rate legal organization, and administers its own 
laws, no other daring to interfere. None of those 
belonging to one caste may enter the abode or eat 
in the presence of -the members of another. 
Should he presume to do so the penalty is fearful. 
All his worldly possessions, of whatever sort, are 
confiscated to the caste he has disgraced ; and 
worse than all, his wife is absolved from her vows, 
and his children no longer acknowledge him as 
father. It is only on the most humiliating terms, 
and by making the fullest reparation that he can 
be restored to favor. Each caste bounds its duties 
and hospitality by the extent of its own circle; 
for to give or receive favors beyond this limit 
renders both parties to the profanation accursed. 
Nor is it only high-castes that are thus profaned 
by contact with others. Even the outcast Pariah, 
who feeds on carrion, finds some one beneath him, 
on whom he may look down ; and the very lowest 
Soudra would deem it defilement to receive a cup 
of tea from the hands of any king in Europe. 
For a high-caste pauper is regarded as the supe- 
rior of a low-caste (or no-caste) sovereign ; and 



292 The Caste System. 

many a poor woman has, during the famines, died 
of starvation rather than receive food from the 
hands of benevolent foreigners. The breaking of 
the rules of caste is punished by fines, beating, or 
burning with red-hot irons, according to the nat- 
ure of the offence ; besides which, if the offence be 
serious the offender is driven out from parents, wife 
and children, who refuse to eat with him, or give 
him a drop of water, and his society is thencefor- 
ward shunned by all. He not only sinks to a 
lower caste : he becomes a Pariah, an outcast, a 
dog, and a vagabond upon the face of the earth. 
Though the offence should be involuntary, or acci- 
dental, the penalty is just the same ; for it is the 
defilement, not the sin, that makes the crime. Mr. 
Dulles mentions a wealthy Brahmin who, from 
pure spite, was seized by a European, and beef and 
wine forced down his throat. He resisted to the 
utmost of his strength, but his foe was the stronger 
of the two, and the Brahmin became an outcast. 
After three years, his friends spent forty thousand 
dollars in endeavoring to have his caste restored, 
but in vain. Later, another attempt at a cost of 
one hundred thousand dollars was made, and the 



Losing Caste. 293 

Brahmin was reinstated, after having to submit to 
the most humiliating and revolting penalties. 

During the reign of the cruel Tippoo Sahib, he 
endeavored to force the Hindus to adopt the Mos- 
lem faith, and compelled a number of them to eat 
beef as an evidence that they had forsaken their 
national religion. After the overthrow and death 
of the tyrant, these men prayed earnestly, but 
without avail, to be reinstated in their old caste 
privileges, and to the day of their death they had 
to endure all the penalties of outcasts, for the 
fault of another. No penalty was deemed suffi- 
cient to atone for the horrible crime of sacrilege 
in eating the flesh of the "sacred cow.'' For theft, 
fraud, lying, perjury or adultery, they might have 
atoned ; but the stain of beef-eating could neither 
be forgiven nor washed away ! 

It is quite impossible at the present day for the 
Hindus, after centuries of subjection to foreign 
rule, Mohammedan and English, and all the 
changes thereby induced, to conform to and en- 
force the rules of caste, as in the old Hindu days. 
But there is still the old clinging to the system, 
and a stubborn determination, as far as practica- 
ble, to carry out the teachings of the Shasters. 



294 The Caste System, 

With all the wrong it engenders, caste, it must be 
admitted, offers some advantages ; and these are of 
just the nature to find favor in the eyes of the 
calm, contemplative, unambitious Hindu of the 
middle and upper classes. He does not care to 
rise above his easy, tranquil life, or to go out of 
the stereotyped habits that have become his second 
nature ; and he has no fear of falling out of the 
position he has inherited, since the bounds are 
fixed and immovable. If he travel in other sec- 
tions of his country, however far from home, he 
finds always a shelter and a welcome with those of 
his own fraternity ; while no one, in his absence, 
though it should be prolonged to years, would ever 
risk loss of caste by interfering with his homestead 
or rights, while the owner was away. 

Different castes preponderate in different local- 
ities ; as, for example, in Bombay, the largest depot 
for trade and the commercial metropolis of India, 
Kschatryas number but few, while the two wealth- 
ier castes. Brahmins and Vaishyas (merchants) 
greatly exceed all others. The former merely in- 
vest capital, and reap large profits, while seeming 
to take no part in such worldly affairs ; while the 
Vaishyas, some classes of them especially, give all 



Various Castes. 297 

their time and energies to trade. The Furvus, a 
caste or class immediately below the Brahmins, 
are a civil, upright, active set of men, filling for 
the most part, places in the Custom House, and 
other government establishments, and acting in 
mercantile houses, as cashiers and shipping clerks. 
Many of this class have filled places of responsi- 
bility, and amassed fortunes in the European ser- 
vice, public and private ; sometimes even rising 
to the position of members of the Governor's 
Council. The Purvus wear gay-colored turbans 
of an enormous size, by which they are readily 
recognized as far as they can be seen, and hence 
are easily found when their services are in requisi- 
tion. 

Another class are the Khayats or Scribes, who 
are generally good linguists, and often fill the 
office of interpreter to ships, in courts, and else- 
where. The BuniaJis are a large and influential 
class of merchants, and they are the most noted 
speculators in India cottons and English linens, 
from which Bombay derives such an immense rev- 
enue. They are also noted as bankers and 
brokers. The dress of the Buniahs is peculiar. 
It consists of a Sarong or waist-cloth, adorned 



298 ' The Oa§te System. 

with a broad red band, and folded tight about the 
limbs ; a long, tight-fitting calico tunic, descend- 
ing almost to the feet, and a round turban coiled 
like a snake about the head. These quaint tur- 
bans are quite in contrast with the high, stiff hats 
of the Parsees, another merchant caste of Bom- 
bay, very numerous and noted for wealth, energy, 
and uprightness. The Parsees and Buniahs are 
often partners in business, but not in society. 

Perhaps one of the very strangest things in re- 
gard to caste, is its rules in respect to the sick and 
dying. If a person supposed to be dying has 
been taken down to the Ganges to breathe his last 
near that holy river, and he should afterwards re- 
cover, it is deemed by all his friends the greatest 
misfortune that could possibly befall him and 
them. For he thus becomes an outcast, and un- 
clean, so that even his nearest relatives dare not 
speak to him or permit him to enter their houses, 
on pain of loss of caste, — the great terror of the 
Hindu. His own wife and children, however 
dearly they may love him, can never eat with him 
again or offer him the least attention ; and if by 
any chance they should happen to touch him, they 
must wash their bodies, and purify themselves by 



the Loss of Caste, 299 

various ceremonies and offerings, to be cleansed 
from the pollution. A gentleman travelling in 
the East, some years ago, had with him several 
servants and a dog ; and one day they stopped 
near the banks of the Ganges to rest and look 
about them. All of a sudden the dog disappeared, 
and after considerable search he was found licking 
a human body that was lying near the river bank. 

On examination, Mr. N found that the man 

who had been left here to die was still alive, and, he 
judged from appearances, might possibly recover. 
So he directed his servants to wash off the mud 
from the poor fellow's face, roll him carefully in a 
blanket and take care of him. The invalid was in 
a few days entirely restored, but he manifested 
such terror at the outcast life that awaited him 
that he preferred to go with this strange gentle- 
man to a country he knew nothing of than to be left 
in his old home, where he was looked at as utterly 
unclean and worse than dead. About fifty miles 
north of Calcutta are two villages inhabited en- 
tirely by poor creatures who have become outcasts 
in consequence of their recovery, after having 
been taken down to the Ganges to die. 



CHAPTER IX. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 



OF the first introduction of Christianity in- 
to India we have no trustworthy record. 
Though Eusebius speaks of St. Bartholomew's go- 
ing to India, and Socrates, speaking of the divis- 
ion of the Gentile world by the Apostles, says: 
" India was assigned to St. Bartholomew," it is by 
no means certain what part of the world was 
alluded to under the general term of India as 
then used. The Syrian Christians of Travancore 
and Malabar have a tradition that St. Thomas 
preached the Gospel in many portions of the 
Indian Peninsula ; and an original manuscript is 
said to be in existence among the Malabar Chris- 
tians containing the record of a visit of the 

Apostle Thomas to that region, A. d. 52 ; of many 

300 



St. Thomas of India. 301 

converts being made by him; and of his being 
subsequently put to death on the Mount outside 
the town of Meliapore, now called by Europeans, 
St. Thome, and not far from the city of Madras. 
Other writers place the date of the first introduc- 
tion of Christianity into India, in the fourth 
century, during the reign of Constantine ; while 
the Nestorians claim to have been the pioneei^s in 
this work, during the early part of the sixth cent- 
ury. Amid these conflicting statements, it is now 
impossible to determine the correctness of either ; 
but it is certain that the early Portuguese settlers, 
who arrived on the Malabar coast about A.D. 1504, 
found there a Christian king, with numerous 
churches, and a large body of professing Chris- 
tians. Their worship is described as pure and 
simple- — wholly unlike the forms and ceremonies 
used by the new-comers, who vainly sought to 
subjugate the Malabar Christians to the authority 
of the Pope — they persistently ignoring his right 
to interfere with their religion, and questioning 
the very existence of any such personage as a 
papal head to the Christian church. They claimed 
for themselves an existence of nearly thirteen 
centuries, and for their bishops a regular succes- 



302 Christian Missions. 

sion from the patriarch of Antioch, " where,'' said 
they triumphantly, " the disciples were first called 
Christians; but where was no Pope." For more 
than a century this ecclesiastical war was waged ; 
but the oriental Christians were the weaker side, 
and corruptions, too, had gradually crept in among 
this simple-hearted folk, until at last, worn out 
by opposition, they laid down their arms, as it 
were, under protest, and were compelled to submit 
to the dogmas of the Church of Rome ; and 
farther, to the decree passed by the Pope, that 
" All Syrian books on ecclesiastical subjects shall 
be burned in order that no- pretended apostolical 
monuments may remain." The records of the 
Syrian Christians still extant, declare that " while 
their books were burning the bishops went 
round in procession, chanting a song of triumph." 
But it was only among the churches on the sea- 
coast that these violent measures achieved even a 
partial success ; those of the interior avowed their 
opposition, concealed their Bibles and religious 
books, fled to the mountains, and when pursued, 
appealed to the native princes for protection. The 
establishment of the Inquisition at Goa, about 
1560, put the finishing touch to the enormities of 



The Portuguese, ^505 

the Romish priests, and drove thousands of the 
nominal Christians, baptized by the excellent 
Xavier, back into the Hindu and Moslem churches 
before he had been for a single decade in his 
peaceful tomb. 

For more than two centuries the Portuguese 
were untiring in their efforts to proselyte the 
Hindus ; resorting, when force and severity had 
failed, to all manner of deceptions, disguises and 
concessions — professing the warmest attachment 
to native institutions, adopting the Hindu garb, 
and abstaining, like the Brahmins, from all animal 
food and stimulating drinks ; while the priests de- 
clared themselves the immediate descendants of 
the Hindu god Brahma ! Among those who thus 
added perjury to hypocrisy, was the famous Robert 
de Nobili, a nephew of Cardinal Bellarmine, and 
a near relative of the Pope. In the furtherance of 
his infamous plans, Nobili caused to be written in 
Hindustanee, a new Veda^ as he called the forgery 
he attempted to palm off on the unsuspecting 
Brahmins as a genuine native production, in which 
the doctrines and dogmas of the Romish church 
were artfully interwoven with Hindu fables, and 
Brahminical lore. 



306 Christian Missions. 

With the passing years, this amalgamation in- 
creased till, as conceded by the Abbe Dubois : 
" The Hindu pageantry is chiefly seen in the festi- 
vals celebrated by the native Christians ; " and in 
many places the same car was used on Hindu fes- 
tival days for idol-deities, and on Romish high-days 
for images of the saints. 

Such is Romanism in India at the present day. 
Its adherents are composed mainly of the descend- 
ants of the mixed marriages of Portuguese and 
natives, and nominal converts who, but for their 
form of baptism, differ in no respect from their 
heathen neighbors, with a very small sprinkling of 
foreign priests or bishops, generally Italians. The 
majority of the clergy are natives of the country, 
educated at Goa, frequently of intemperate habits, 
and nearly always of debased moral character; 
while the mass of the people are the most ignorant, 
unpromising, and degraded class in India. The 
Bible has always been withheld from them, no 
portion of the Scriptures being ever translated by 
popish missionaries into any of the languages of 
the East ; and only the most garbled versions of 
the inspired record communicated to the people in 
the oral instructions of the priests. 



Protestant Missions. 309 

The first Protestant mission in India was com- 
menced by the Danish Government at Tranque- 
bar, on the Coromandel coast, in the early part of 
the eighteenth century, at the instigation of Dr. 
Lutkins, one of the chaplains of the King of Den- 
mark. The first missionaries were Messrs. Ziegen- 
balg and Plutschau, who arrived at Tranqiiebar in 
1705. Though opposed and persecuted — oftener 
by Europeans than Hindus — their work pro- 
gressed ; another missionary joined the first, a 
printing-press, printer, and physician were soon 
added, the New Testament was translated and 
printed in Tamil, and other works, including a dic- 
tionary of the language, were prepared and 
printed. When Ziegenbalg died in 1719, after 
thirteen years of most faithful and self-denying 
labors, a noble band of three hundred and fifty- 
five native converts attested his success in laboring 
for their salvation. Seven years later, the number 
had been nearly doubled ; and despite the counter- 
acting influence of almost incessant wars between 
the several European nations and the natives, and 
the immoral lives led by the majority of the for- 
eign residents, " the little one became a thousand, 
and the small one mighty." 



310 Christian Missioyis. 

In 1733, the first native pastor was ordained ; in 
1727 the Madras Mission, under the auspices of 
the Cliristian Knowledge Society, was founded by 
Dr. Schultze, who had previously completed the 
Tamil Old Testament, begun by Ziegenbalg ; and 
in 1737 a third mission was established at Cudda- 
lore, on the same coast. In 1750, the immortal 
Schwartz began his great work in India, which was 
continued for forty-eight years with such unflinch- 
ing zeal and fidelity as to evoke the highest en- 
comiums of both Christians and pagans ; while 
such was his reputation among Moslems that 
the haughty Hyder Ali, when refusing to receive 
the English Embassy, said : " Send me the Chris- 
tian (Schwartz) ; he will not deceive me." The 
same man, on his death-bed, sent for Schwartz, 
and entreated him to become the guardian and 
educator of his adopted son Serfogee, the future 
Rajah of Tanjore, and the same who, at the demise 
of Schwartz, sixteen years afterwards, delayed the 
funeral " that he might look once more upon the 
face of his friend, that he bedewed with tears, and 
covered with cloth of gold, ere the cof&n hid it 
from his sight." The church in Tanjore, where 
this great apostle preached, and the chapel where 




THE MOHORUM, (NEW- YEAR FESTIVAL), AT EHOPAL. 



English Missions, 313 

his remains are interred, are both still used for 
Christian worship; and in the wall opposite the 
pulpit of the former, is a beautiful monument of 
white marble, by Flaxman, erected at the expense 
of the Rajah. The design is the closing scene of 
the missionary's life, whence, surrounded by weep- 
ing pupils and friends, the Rajah himself among 
them, and the dying eyes fixed upon the cross 
held aloft by a descending angel, the good man 
passes to his rest. Beneath is an elaborate and 
most interesting inscription. 

The first English missionaries to India were 
Rev. Messrs. Carey and Thomas, who landed in 
Calcutta, November, 1793. Their project, from 
the very outset, received only ridicule from friends 
at home, and persistent opposition and persecution 
from their countrymen in India, until at last, they 
were driven from Calcutta to Serampore, and found 
under the shelter of the Danish flag the protec- 
tion denied them by their own. Here, warmly 
welcomed by the Danish Governor, a former friend 
and parishioner of Schwartz, Ward, Carey, Marsh- 
man and Thomas set themselves diligently to 
work in studying the languages, and in the print- 
ing and distribution of Christian tracts, as well as 



314 Christian Missions. 

to the oral instruction of all within their reach. 
Frederick VI., of Denmark, assured them of his 
especial favor and protection ; multitudes flocked 
to hear the missionaries preach, the translation of 
the New Testament into Bengali was completed 
and printed in February, 1801, and about the same 
time, the first native convert w^as baptized in the 
presence of the governor, and a large concourse of 
Hindus, Mohammedans, Portuguese and English. 
In 1816, seven hundred natives had been baptized, 
and ten thousand children had been instructed in 
the truths of the Christian religion. Two years 
later, a college was founded, in which, besides San- 
scrit, Arabic, and many Indian languages, English, 
Greek and Hebrew were also taught. The witty 
Sydney Smith satirized and ridiculed Carey and 
his associates, as " consecrated cobblers " and 
" maniacs," and, in an article for the Edinhirgh 
Review^ in 1808, held up their work to derision ; 
3^et to-day their names are honored as India's best 
and truest benefactors ; and their work, then but 
the beginning of a tiny rivulet, has gone on wid- 
ening and deepening, receiving in its onward course 
many tributaries, till it has become a great and 
mighty river enriching and beautifying that broad 



American Missio7is. 315 

land, and scattering joy and blessing everywhere 
in its course. 

Other lands and other societies have, as the 
years passed on, taken part in this great work of 
carrying the gospel to India ; but the work has 
been easier to their successors, that these brave pio- 
neers so effectually opened the door that world- 
liness and bigotry would have closed. 

The first missionaries to India from the United 
States were Judson, Newell, Rice, Hall and Nott, 
who were sent out by the "American Board" of 
Foreign Missions, Id 1812. The same arbitrary 
power that had opposed the work of Carey and his 
associates, for a time effectually hindered the 
establishment of stations by the American mis- 
sionaries anywhere within the dominions of the 
British East India Company ; and these new-com- 
ers were subjected to even greater annoyances and 
persecutions than those visited upon theirs English 
brethren. But, by the renewed charter of the 
East India Company, in 1813, all restrictions to 
missionary labor were removed ; and from that 
period to the present, the course of this great 
cause has been steadily onward. 

The first mission in Burmah was established by 



816 Christian Missions. 

Dr. Judson, in 1813, at Rangoon ; the first Ameri- 
can mission in Ceylon, by Messrs. Poor, Meigs, 
Warren, and Richards, in 1816, at Jaffna ; and the 
first American mission at Madras, in 1836, by 
Messrs. Winslow and Scudder. American Luth- 
erans began their first work in India, in 1842 ; 
the American Presbyterian Foreign Board, in 
1834; the United Presbyterians, in 1855; the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1857 ; the Ameri- 
can Baptist Missionary Union, in 1840 ; and the 
Freewill Baptists, in 1836. The London Mission- 
ary Society began its work in India, in 1798 ; the 
Wesleyans, in 1816 ; the Church Missionary Soci- 
ety, in 1815 ; the General Baptist Missionary 
Society, in 1822 ; the Church of Scotland, in 1829; 
the Basle Missionary Society, in 1834 ; the Gossner 
Missionary Society, in 1846 ; the Moravians, in 
1855. The Liepzig Lutherans, Irish Presbyterians, 
Presbyterians of Canada, the Welsh Calvinists, 
and several other societies are also engaged in 
active efforts for the Christianization of India, 
all vicing with each other in zeal, activity, and 
devotion to this noble work. In a document pre- 
pared and printed by order of the British House of 
Commons, in 1873, some of the benefits accruing 
from these labors are detailed, as follows : 




CATHACKS, (male PANCERS) AT BHOPAL, 



Effects of Missions. 319 

" The Protestant Missions of India, Burmah, 
and Ceylon are carried on by thirty-five societies, 
in addition to local agencies ; and now employ the 
services of six hundred and six foreign mission- 
aries, of whom five hundred and fifty are ordained. 
They occupy five hundred and twenty-two princi- 
pal stations, and two thousand five hundred subor- 
dinate stations. Apart from their special duty as 
public preachers and pastors, the foreign mission- 
aries constitute a valuable body of educators ; they 
contribute greatly to the cultivation of the native 
languages and literature ; and all who are resident 
in rural districts are appealed to for medical help. 
They have prepared hundreds of works suited both 
for schools and for general circulation in the fifteen 
most prominent languages of India, and in several 
other districts ; they are the compilers of several 
dictionaries and grammars ; they have written im- 
portant works on the native classics and the system 
of philosophy ; and they have largely stimulated 
the great increase of the native literature prepared 
in recent years by educated native gentlemen. 
A great increase has taken place in the number 
of converts the last twenty years. They are 
now at least five hundred thousand. The gov- 
ernment of India cannot but acknowledge the 



320 Christian Missions. 

great obligation under which it is laid b}^ the 
benevolent exertions of these six hundred mis- 
sionaries, whose blameless example and self- 
denying labors are infusing new vigor into the 
stereotyped life of the great populations placed 
under English rule, and are preparing them to be 
in every way better men and better citizens of the 
great Empire in which they dwell." * 

To all this may be added the wide diffusion of 
Christian knowledge ; the arousing of the Hindu 
mind from its long torpor to the earnest discussion 
of the merits and claims of Christianity ; the abo- 
lition of the suttee^ of female infanticide, and 
hook-SAvinging, except in districts remote from 
foreign inliuence ; the loosing of the bonds of 
caste, the diminished influence of Brahminical 
power, and the desire and earnest efforts put forth 
for the education of Avoman during the present 
decade. In view of all this, and much that can- 
not here be detailed, it is evident that India's long 
night of superstition and moral ignorance is pass- 
ing away, and the dawn of a glorious day already 
at hand. 



* For many of these statistics, the writer acknowledges indebtedness to articles 
of Rev. S, Hutchings in the Missionary Review. 



CHAPTER X. 



EARLIEST HISTOHY. 



THE early hist 013^ of India, like that of all 
oriental nations, is involved in much obscu- 
rity. Their own records furnish nearly all the in- 
formation now obtainable of that great country 
during the first centuries of its existence ; and the 
fact that these records must be drawn mainly from 
their poetical works, render it no easy task to sep- 
arate the real from the fabulous. The utmost 
efforts of such indefatigable oriental scholars as 
Sir William Jones, Prinsep and Wilson, have not 
been sufficient to open to us all those sealed por- 
tals of the past; but they do enable us to fix with 
considerable accuracy the dates of many leading 
events. Sir William Jones says that " India and 
Persia, and all the South of Asia, were but parts 

321 



322 Earliest History, 

of one great empire of antiquity, called Iran, 
which was the earliest settled in the world." 
Indian traditions preserve the name of Meru^ a 
planter of vines and cultivator of the soil. This 
probably is the account they had somehow received 
of Noah's vine 'planted after the subsidence of the 
flood. The Agni Purana says : " When the flood 
was gathering, a fish fell into Meru's hand. It 
quickly grew into an enormous size, and had a 
horn on which to support an ark. Into this ark, 
Meru, with his sons and their women, and the seed 
of every thing living entered, and were supported 
on the horn of the great fish throughout the great 
flood." This same Meru was called, like the 
Egyptian Menes, the " Son of the Sun," the name 
that till to-day the Rajputs lay claim to. Of late 
years, Mr. Prinsep has discovered a key by which 
may be read many inscriptions on the columns and 
walls of rock-cut temples, which formerly set at 
nought all attempts to decipher them. The lan- 
guage has turned out to be Bali, the sacred lan- 
guage of India, and indeed of all Southern Asia ; a 
dialect which is now engaging the attention of 
many oriental scholars, by the light of which, 
many hitherto obscure portions of Hindu history 



The Ramayana. 825 

may be, in a measure, comprehended. There can 
be no question that while Joseph was ruling under 
Pharoah, in Egypt, there were organized govern- 
ments in India, and reigning princes who could 
bring large armies into the field. 

The " Ramayana," an epic poem detailing the 
adventures of the god Rama, though containing, 
without doubt, many fables and exaggerations, is 
also a shadowing forth of events and exploits that 
actually took place. The first mention made of this 
nation, locates them in a tract of land between the 
rivers Sersuti and Caggar^ distant from Delhi not 
more than one hiiiidred miles to the northwest. 
It then bore the imme of Brahmaverti, and is 
described as the abode of the gods, " the scene of 
the adventures of princes, and the residence of 
famous sages." Moses describes the precious 
stones of India in the requisitions for making the 
tabernacle ; and some writers have believed that 
the term " shittim-wood," in our version of the 
Bible, which the " Seventy " rendered " Incorrupt- 
ible-wood," may have referred to the precious J.Zoe 
wood found near Cape Comorin. This is the most 
precious of all woods, obtainable only at a few 
places in the world, and worth, even in our own 



326 Earliest History. 

day, its weight in gold. The Phoenicians and 
Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, successively re- 
paired to the coasts of Malabar for their drugs, 
indigo and gum-lac, for their ivory, mother-of- 
pearl and precious stones.* Herodotus, also with 
Strabo, Pliny and Ptolemy, confirm the accounts of 
the great antiquity of India. According to the 
" Vishnu Pur ana," their territory was, at the "first, 
only sixty-five miles long and forty broad ; but at 
an early period from their first records the Hindus 
appear to have enlarged the bounds of their king- 
dom, making it include the present districts of 
Oude, Agra, Allahabad, Lahore and Delhi. 

The city of Oude was then called Aoudha^ and 
was the capital of the kingdom in the early days. 
Hindu records state that there were born, as em- 
anations from Brahma, two princes, whose descend- 
ants were known as the "solar and lunar races." 

Various fabulous and most extravagant accounts 
of sixty races of these are given ; but it is only in 
following the details of the Ramayana, or the 
exploits of Rama, that any available facts are 
reached. Rama, the hero of this oriental Epic, 
seems to have been a real personage, one of the 
earlier kings of Oude, who having, after the fash- 



328 Earliest History, 

ion of many oriental monarclis, resolved on a pro- 
tracted period of penance, retired with his beauti- 
ful wife Sita, to the seclusion of the forests of 
Aoudha. The Island of Ceylon, which claims to 
date back its historical records to the twenty-fourth 
century before our era, was supposed in the former 
days to have been a portion of the mainland, and 
to have been inhabited by a race of demons who 
made constant depredations into the surrounding 
country. On one of these marauding expeditions 
Ravana, the king of Ceylon, chanced to meet the 
beautiful queen Sita, and becoming desperately 
enamored of her charms, carried her off to his 
capital at Lanka. Rama, stung to desperation by 
the loss of his beloved wife, and fearing to en- 
counter this company of " demons," with only his 
own small army, called to his aid Hanouman, the 
king of a race of wonderful monkeys. Uniting 
their powers, the allies marched with all possible 
speed across the Deccan, and on reaching the ex- 
tremity of the mainland found a miraculous bridge 
had been thrown across the Pambero Passage for 
their special accommodation. Upon this, they 
crossed into Ceylon, surprised Ravana just as he 
was entering Lanka with his valued prize, rescued 



The Ramayana, 829 

the queen after a terrible battle, and were about 
setting out on their return, when Rama accident- 
ally killed his brother Lachman. Overwhelmed 
with despair he threw himself into the water, and 
dying was reunited to the divinity. The powerful 
monkey-king fell heir to the beautiful Sita, and 
carried her off to his own realm, despite the deter- 
mined resistance of Ravana and his " demons." 

Amid this maze of the marvellous and the ro- 
mantic, there is doubtless a broad vein of truth. 
This invasion of Ceylon by the king of Oude, it 
is believed, took place about the fourteenth cent- 
ury before our Lord's advent, and that Rama did 
not live to return from his unfortunate expedition, 
while the queen Sita, the innocent cause of all the 
trouble, was carried off an unwilling captive by 
the ally of her former lord. The " monkeys " 
were probably a race of wild mountaineers pressed 
suddenly into service by king Rama to aid him in 
his hurried pursuit ; and the " demons " may have 
been so called by the infuriated husband either on 
account of this lawless act of violence, or from 
their dark complexions. 

Little is recorded of the immediate successors of 
Rama, or of the domain they ruled over, beyond 



330 Earliest History. 

the fact of the removal of the capital from Oude 
to Canouj." 

Another great Indian Epic, the " Maha Barat^' 
deals somewhat more in facts, with perhaps less 
commingling of the marvellous and fictitious than 
the Ramayana. 

There are looselj^-written records of a great war 
between two rival branches of the house of Has- 
tinapura, supposed to represent the country lying 
on the Ganges, northeast of Delhi. Into this quar- 
rel most of the princes of India seem to have 
been drawn, and the war appears to have raged 
with great fury for a considerable period, and to 
have devastated some of the most flourishing dis- 
tricts of Hindustan.* The Pandu branch were 
the victors ; but they were so impoverished, both 
in men and money, by this violent and protracted 
contest that they did not for several generations re- 
cover their former position. The precise date of this 
war is not known ; but it may be safely placed 
within the fourteenth century before our era. Of 
the succeeding Pandu kings we know almost noth- 
ing — the records, such as they are, not agreeing 
even as to the number, some placing it at twenty- 

* Malcolm's " Indian Mutiny." 







SIDE VIEW OF THE PAL PALACE, AT GWALIOR. 



G-audama, 333 •• 

nine, and others swelling the list to sixty-four. 
Despite this paucity of details in regard to the 
kings, there may be gleaned from the pages of the 
^^ Maha i?arai" many interesting facts concerning 
the relative position of the several kingdoms and 
independent states, their social condition, and 
gradual development. Six distinct kingdoms are 
mentioned in this part of India, most prominent 
among which is the sovereignty of Magada, whose 
king, at the time of the great war, was Maha-Deva ; 
and from his reign down to A. D. 436, there is an 
unbroken line of kings. Of most of them, how- 
ever, little has come down to us besides their 
names. In this kingdom of Magada, South Behar, 
Gaudama,* the founder of the Buddhistic religion, 
was born, B.C. 656. He was the only son of the 
reigning king; a prince of noble endowments, 
physical, mental and moral, and well fitted for the 
important part he was to perform in the affairs of 
his country and the world. He was about forty 
years of age when he began to preach his new 
doctrines ; and from that time to the close of his 
life, at the advanced age of eighty-four, he seems 
to have been untiring in his efforts to reform the 

* Regarding Gaudama, see " The Light of Asia," by Edwin Arnold. 



334 Earliest History. 

clergy, and to inculcate among the people honesty, 
virtue, truth, temperance and kindness, his own 
life furnishing the best commentary on his teach- 
ings. There is no reason to believe that he ever 
claimed to be more than a religious teacher^ and it 
was not until after his death that he was wor- 
shipped as a god. His death occurred B. c. 572. 
This portion of Hindu history is certainly no 
fable, nor the hero a myth, but all the details of 
his life are well authenticated facts. It is in the 
Pali or Bali^ the ancient language of Magada, 
that the sacred books of the Buddhists are always 
written. 

Alexander's invasion of the Punjaub, by break- 
ing the power of the Brahmins, tended to the 
increase of Buddhism, at least for a time. The 
Pandu dynasty of Magada, in South Behar, was 
overthrown by Chandragumpta, a Soudra, or low- 
caste, who murdered the reigning king, the four- 
teenth of his line. Sir William Jones has shown 
plainly that Chandragumpta is synonymous with 
the Sandrakottus of the Greek historians: he who 
freed the Punjaub from Macedonian rule, and re- 
ceived Megasthenes at his court in Pataliputra. 
About the year B. c. 310, he concluded a treaty 



Sandrakottus 335 

with Seleuciis, one of Alexander's successors. 
Through his origin, as a Soudra, the Brahmins 
were greatly scandalized, and their power curtailed 
during this reign and several succeeding ones. 




CHAPTER XI. 

DECLINE OF THE AEAB POWER. 

HARMASOKA, the grandson of Chandra- 
gumpta, was the greatest kmg of the Maurya 
dynast}", and the first who seems to have had 
any real title to be called lord paramount, or 
Emperor of India. The researches of Mr. Prinsep, 
and the numberless old inscriptions he has un- 
earthed from various remote sections of the 
Empire, have settled beyond a doubt the mooted 
question in regard to the extent of the dominion 
of this famous king. These dominions, as shown 
by indubitable j)roof, must have reached from far 
northward of Delhi to the island of Ceylon (the 
Taprobane of the ancients), and embraced a wide 
extent of country from east to west. The same 

inscriptions show that his government was far 

336 




MAUSOLEUM OF THE SCINDIAS, AT LASHKAR. 



338 Decline of the Arab Power. 

advanced in civilization ; and many ancient edicts 
were found for the establishment of hospitals and 
dispensaries in distant portions of the realm, and 
for the sinking of shafts and wells, and the plant- 
ing of shade trees along the public highways, for 
the benefit of travellers.* 

Under the name of Piyadasi (love-gifted) this 
great king published many humane edicts ad- 
dressed to his people, and written so that they 
could understand them in the ordinary dialects of 
the country, instead of Sanscrit or Bali that would 
have been intelligible only to the learned. Many 
of these edicts have been found engraven on col- 
umns at Delhi and Allahabad, and on rocks near 
Peishwar, Guzerat and Orissa. Under the com- 
mand of king Dharmasoka, a sort of church council 
was again held at Pataliputra to endeavor to heal 
divisions that had arisen between priests of dif- 
ferent orders, and to harmonize the old and new 
creeds; and also to correct abuses » among the 
clergy. An earthquake occurring at the close of 
the council, it was regarded as an approval of its 
decrees. 

None of the writings of Buddha dated prior to 

* Malcolm in " Indian Mutiny." 



Graudama. 839 

this council are considered valid. It must be re- 
membered that none of the teachings of the 
Buddh Gaudama were written during his life- 
time ; but after his death, by his disciples and 
followers. And because of corruptions that had 
crept in, by either accident or design, these writ- 
ings were all carefully examined, and the decrees 
of preceding councils modified by this. This king 
seems to have very heartily approved of the doc- 
trines of Buddhism, and by his express command 
priests and teachers were sent far and wide, pro- 
claiming the new faith. Siam, Burmah, China, 
Ceylon, Cashmere, and even the wilds of Kafiris- 
tan, were all instructed in the teachings of Gau- 
dama ; and this mild, peace-loving system carried 
the elements of Indian civilization to many a 
savage tribe that had hitherto been noted for dark 
and cruel practices. 

After the death of Dharmasoka, the Magada 
kingdom seems gradually to have declined ; and in 
the fifth century of our era it was subjected to the 
kings of Canouj, and no longer regarded as a sep- 
arate state. Canouj appears to have been not 
only one of the most ancient states of India, but 
also far advanced in civilization and the arts. 



340 Decline of the Arab Power, 

This is attested, even at the present day, by the 
splendid ruins of its ancient capital on the banks 
of the Ganges. In the former days, known as 
Panchala, Canouj extended from Banar and Chum- 
bul eastward as far as Nepal, which was also in- 
cluded in its territory. 

Scinde is spoken of at the date of the Maha 
Barat as an independent kingdom. It was still so 
when Alexander's invasion took place,* though 
divided into several separate states. In the 
seventh century it was reunited, in the eighth in- 
vaded by the Arabs, in the ninth retaken by the 
Rajputs, and A. D. 1015 it became subject to the 
rulers of the Ghorian dynasty. 

Guzerat, under a Rajput race of rulers, had its 
capital, in the second century, at Balibi ; but in 
A. D. 524 these rulers were expelled by the Indo- 
Bactrians, for a brief period, recovering sway in 
531. The Balibi princes having been succeeded 
in the eighth century by the Chaura Rajputs, the 
capital was removed to Patan. This race be- 
coming extinct in A. D. 931, was succeeded by 



* The conquest of India by Alexander III., of Macedon, was completed B.C. 
327. An account of the Asiatic expedition of this conqueror is given by Arria- 
nus, the friend of Epictetus, who wrote also a work entitled Indlca, in which he 
gave excellent descriptions of the interior of India and of portions of its coast. 



Aboriginal Inhahitants. 841 

the Rajput tribe of Salonka, wlio remained in 
power for about three centuries. It was subju- 
gated by the Mohammedans in 1297. 

Vicramaditya, one of the kings of Mai war, 
seems to have acquired vast dominions, extending 
his rule over nearly the whole of India ; but the 
Mohammedan invasion, when it swept over Hin- 
dustan, carried everything before its crushing 
power. 

The aboriginal inhabitants of the Deccan are 
said to have been foresters, and wild mountain- 
tribes, leading a lawless and marauding life. But 
this was probably at a remote period, for the 
Greeks mention only an advanced civilization in 
their notices of Southern India. Of all the States 
of the Deccan, Paudya and Chola are most 
ancient, the latter including at one time a large 
portion of the Carnata. 

From the Maha Barat, we learn that the ancient 
kingdom of Orissa was for a long period in a very 
flourishing condition, and that it was occupied suc- 
cessively by Salivahana and Yicramaditj^a. Later, 
the government was in the hands of the Kesari 
race, with constantly recurring wars, then it fell 
into the hands of the Rajputs and Talingas, re- 



342 Decline of the Arab Power, 

spectively, and about the year 1590, it was annexed 
by Akbar to the empire. 

Thus it is evident that the whole history of India, 
from very remote ages, has been one of almost 
continuous war and bloodshed, foreign incursions 
and domestic brawls — the decline of one empire 
or dynasty and the rise of another. Its later his- 
tory is but a repetition of the earlier. First 
shaken by Persian invasions, then a prey to the in- 
vincible Macedonians under Alexander ; next par- 
alyzed by the Moslem zealots of Mahmoud of 
Ghuzni ; and again trampled by the Tartan hosts 
of Janghis Khan, till finally crushed beneath the 
incubus of the great Mogul dynasty of the re- 
nowned Tamerlane. 

The Moors, during their palmy days, fed upon 
India, Venice grew rich on her wealth, the Portu- 
guese opened the highway by a new route to the 
same precious mine, the Dutch followed snit, and 
England was not slow to enter the lists. The end 
is not yet. 

Powerful as the Mahrattas afterward became, 
and extensively as their language is spoken, we 
find less of them in the early times of India than 
of almost any other race. Until mentioned by 



Alexander m India, 345 

Mohammedan writers after the conquest, there was 
little to mark their existence save the bare men- 
tion of their capital, Tagara^ as a place of some 
importance, and even of this the site has long 
since been lost. 

When Alexander first turned his attention to 
India, the flourishing condition of the whole coun- 
try was evidently a matter of surprise ; the im- 
mense wealth of native princes, their settled 
government, the advances made in the arts and 
sciences, the forces Indian kings were capable of 
bringing into the field, the excellence and variety 
of their weapons, and the domestic and social 
habits of the people, were all very much as found 
in our own day, and very far in advance of the 
majority of the nations of the earth. .Alexander 
evidently did no more than touch upon the out- 
skirts of the great country. Having checked the 
advance of his immense army on the banks of the 
Hyphasis, with scarcely a glance at the broad land 
outspread before him, his steps were bent toward 
the southwest, and passing onward between the 
desert and the Indus, he bade India a final adieu, 
leaving only a few garrisons behind him, and one 
or two kings and chiefs allied to his government. 



346 Decline of the Arab Power, 

Among the latter, was the celebrated Porus, whom 
he first vanquished, severely wounding him in 
battle, and then received as an ally. 

Though as early as the reign of the Calif Omar 
there were frequent incursions of Arabs into the 
Scinde country, it was only as piratical parties 
bent on plunder ; and it was not until the year 
664 A. D. that there was any regularly organized 
expedition of Arabs against India for purposes of 
conquest. At this period the Arabs penetrated 
into the Afghan country as far as Cabul, made its 
ruler a tributary governor, and then with a por- 
tion of their troops, under the command of the 
celebrated Mohalib, they pushed on to Mooltan, 
sacked the city, and carried off a large body of 
prisoners. Shortly after this, a piratical vessel 
putting into one of the seaports of Scinde, and 
committing some depredations, was seized by the 
inhabitants and destroyed. This excited the 
vengeful ire of the Arabs, and led to the invasion 
of the country by a large army under the com- 
mand of Mohammed Casim, the younger son of the 
Governor of Basra. The youthful warrior gained 
a complete victory, captured the fortified city of 
Dewal, mad'e the Rajah's son prisoner, and devas- 



A Heroine, 347 

tated the whole country as far as the capital. 
Here the Rajah of Daher, with fifty thousand men 
and a large body of elephants opposed him ; but 
met complete defeat, in consequence of a rout 
caused by the wounding of the Rajput's elephant 
under him, and the wild scene of confusion that 
followed. Daher acted with distinguished valor, 
but finding it impossible to retrieve his lost fort- 
unes, he rushed into the thickest of the fight, and 
fell covered with wounds. His wife, with wonder- 
ful bravery, endeavored to rally the discomfited 
soldiers, and finding this impossible she took 
refuge in Brahman^ibad, and held the city for 
some time, under great odds. Finding their 
efforts vain, all the women and children were im- 
molated on an immense funeral pile, and the brave 
garrison of Rajputs rushed out and met death at 
the points of the Arab swords. Some few who 
had remained within the fort were slaughtered 
without mercy, and several youths carried away 
captives. Casim met with little opposition in his 
onward progress, and was not only rapidly subdu- 
ing the country he had invaded, but establishing a 
good and wise administration over the conquered 
territory, when his successes were terminated by 



348 Decline of the Arab Power, 

his sudden death. Though subsequent expeditions 
were less successful, the Moslem rule in Scinde 
continued until A. D. 750, when the united forces 
of the Kajputs and Hindus expelled the invaders 
from the country. The decline of the Arab power 
in India began from this period, and was never 
again firmly established. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE SUPREMACY OF MAHMOUD. 

THE demise of the Calif Haroun-al-Raschid 
was followed by the secession of Khorassan 
and other important provinces, thus still farther 
weakening the already decaying power of the 
Arabs in India. 

Among the petty dynasties of the northern 
provinces of the Arab dominions were the Samanis^ 
a family of Bokhara descent, established in Kho- 
rassin, over which they had ruled for more than a 
century. Abdulmelek, the fifth prince of the 
house of Samani, had in his family a Turkish slave 
named Alptegin, who, by his natural abilities and 
faithfulness, so won the esteem of his master as to 
be promoted to the high office of governor of 
Khorassan. This command he held till his master's 
death, when, having in some way offended the new 

349 



350 The Supremacy of Mahmoud. 

ruler, lie was obliged to seek safety in flight, and 
took refuge among the Gazni hill tribes. These 
mountaineers were a bold, hardy race, eager for 
adventures, and never afraid to use their own 
weapons or face those of their adversaries. So, 
nothing loth to place themselves under a leader so 
daring as.Alptegin, they gave the adventurer a 
hearty welcome, and enlisted themselves and their 
swords in his service. To the day of his death, 
which occurred fourteen years later, he maintained 
his position in the Ghaznivide country as the bold 
and always successful leader of an able and in- 
trepid band of Afghans and Mamelukes. Among 
his I followers was an especial favorite, a soldier 
who had been, like himself, a slave, and like him- 
self had been for faithfulness and ability promoted 
to the position next his master's. When the death 
of Alptegin occurred in A. D. 976, the favorite 
Sibektegin succeeded to the mountain throne of his 
late master, and by marrying the dead chief's daugh- 
ter, he rendered his position still more secure. Lord 
Elphinstone relates a popular story of the young 
Sibektegin, while yet a private soldier, that, if true, 
speaks well for his humanity : " One day, in hunt- 
ing, he succeeded in riding down a fawn, but 



352 The Supremacy of Mahmoud. 

when he was carrying off his prize in triumph he 
observed the dam following his horse, and showing 
such evident marks of distress, that he was touched 
with compassion, and at last released his captive, 
pleasing himself with the gratitude of the mother, 
that several times turned back to gaze at him as 
she went off to the forest with her fawn. That 
night, the Prophet appeared to him in a dream, 
and told him that God had given him a kingdom 
as a reward for his humanity, and enjoined him 
not to forget his feelings of mercy when he came 
to the exercise of power." 

Shortly after the accession of Sibektegin to the 
throne of his mountain kingdom, his territory was 
invaded by Jeipal, the Rajah of Lahore, at the 
head of a large army. The Hindu Princes on the 
east of the Indus had become restive of the estab- 
lishment of Moslem power so contiguous to their 
own country, and determining to drive out the in- 
truders, the Rajah of Lahore liad taken the initia- 
tive, while others were to follow him to the field. 
But just when the Indus had been crossed, and he 
was approaching Gazni, a fierce storm of hail and 
wind came on, in the midst of which he encoun- 
tered Sibektegin and his hardy warriors. A fierce 




THE IMPERIAL DURBAR — DRESS RECEPTION. 



Sihehtegin Victorious, 355 

encounter ensued, in which the Hindus, unused to 
cold and to mountain tactics, got the worst of the 
fray, and Jeipal was compelled to treat with his 
adversary on the latter's own terms, which were 
the payment on the spot of fifty elephants and 
the forwarding on the Rajah's return of a large 
sum of money. The elephants were handed over 
as stipulated ; but the money the Rajah refused to 
forward, when safe within his own lines. The 
Tartar chief declining to pocket such an insult 
crossed the Indus at the head of an immense 
force ; but Jeipal met him with one much more 
numerous, having summoned to the defence of 
their common cause the Rajahs of Delhi, Ajmere, 
Calingar, and Canonj, their united forces number- 
ing a hundred thousand cavalry, and a vast army 
of foot soldiers. But numbers availed nothing 
against the determined valor and perfect discipline 
of Sibektegin's splendid army. The Hindus suf- 
fered a terrible defeat, and fled precipitately from 
the field, pursued hotly by Sibektegin as far as the 
Indus, where he at once established his authority, 
leaving a governor and a numerous body of troops 
in command of the Peishwar region. 

Sibektegin might have carried his success farther, 



356 The Supremacy of MaJimoud. 

but he was summoned at this time to aid his 
former masters, the Samanis, in subduing their re- 
bellious subjects to obedience. This had scarcely 
been accomplished ere Sibektegin's aggressive 
measures were cut short by his sudden death. 
His son, Mahmoud, a daring, ambitious spirit, suc- 
ceeded him with the title of Sultan, and began at 
once aggressions on his Indian neighbors. Four 
expeditions across the Indus followed each other 
in quick succession, in all of which, Mahmoud was 
victorious, and in the last captured immense 
amounts of treasure and precious stones. A tri- 
umphal feast followed, during which the Indian 
spoils were publicly exhibited on tables of pure 
gold, thus adding to his prestige in the eyes of his 
people, and increasing the influence he wielded 
over his soldiers, whose admiration for their dar- 
ling leader was such that they would have followed 
him to the world's end. His next step was the 
assembling of an immense force of one hundred 
thousand cavalry and twenty thousand foot, with 
which he was thundering at the gates of Canouj 
before his approach was even suspected. The 
whole of the Punjaub was soon annexed to the 
kingdom of Ghuzni, and the conquest of Lahore 



358 The Supremacy of Mahmoud. 

followed, bj which the foundation of the Ghuzni- 
vide dynasty in India was securely laid, and the 
Mohammedan conqueror brought within the limits 
of India. This was in A. D. 1022, and two years 
later he fitted out his twelfth and last expedition 
into India. The object of this was the great 
temple of Somnat, situated on the southern border 
of Guzerat, and noted alike for the immense 
Wealth belonging to its shrine and for the very 
great sanctity that attached to this famous temple. 
The Hindus offered a gallant resistance; but it 
availed not, and their gorgeous temple, with its 
vast treasures, fell into the hands of the Moslem. 
His last conquest, that of Persia, followed quickly 
after the taking of Somnat ; and then, ere these new ' 
laurels had lost their first bloom, the founder of the 
Afghan-Indo dynasty sank to his last repose, and 
another reigned in his stead. 

Mahmoud, uniting i]i himself the characteristics 
of a great general and a great sovereign, was * 
assuredly one of the most remarkable men of his 
times, having many noble and striking qualities 
not very common in those days, with very few of 
the faults and defects most prevalent among men 
in power at the period in which he lived. Just, 



FerdousL 359 

considerate, and kind to all, he was possessed of an 
innate nobility that would never permit him to be 
either unduly elated at his own good fortune, or 
unmindful of the claims of those vanquished. 
Among other noble acts, he founded in his capital 
an excellent college, with a library and mu- 
seum attached, and appropriated fully fifty thous- 
and dollars a year to the payment of profes- 
sors and the maintenance of poor students. Lord 
Elphinstone mentions the case of a poor woman 
who complained to this Sultan of the loss of her 
only son, who had been slain by robbers in a 
distant part of the empire. The Sultan answered 
that it was impossible for him always to enforce 
the laws in the border-provinces, so far removed 
from his immediate control. " Wh}^, then," was 
the spirited reply, "do you take more territory than 
you can govern." Mahmoud, it is said, saw the 
pertinence of the reproof and instituted more 
effective measures for the protection of his sub- 
jects at a distance from the capital. 

It was in the reign of this monarch that the 
eminent poet, Ferdousi, flourished. He was at- 
tracted to the court of Mahmoud by the Sultan's 
general patronage of literature, but for some 



360 The Supremacy of Mahmoud. 

reason, Ferdousi proved almost tlie solitary excep- 
tion. He spent thirty whole years in compos- 
ing a grand epic of sixty thousand couplets, 
a work that has been deservedly admired alike by 
oriental and occidental scholars; jT'et he received 
no recompense, and it is said, actually died of 
want, of which, however, the Sultan was not cog- 
nizant, an over-sensitiveness restraining the poet 
from any revelation of his needs. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

KHILIJI, THE SANGUINAEY. 

MOHAMMED, Mahmoud's second son, was 
by his late father's express wish placed on 
the throne ; but the popular will soon deposed the 
new Sultan, and put in his stead the more warlike 
and popular brother. Then followed five short 
reigns, including those of the two sons and two 
grandsons of Mahmoud, who successively suffered 
violent deaths, and whose entire reigns were filled 
with revolts, insurrections, and murders. The 
last of the five, Abdul Rashid, was besieged in 
Ghazni by a revolted chief, captured, and mur- 
dered with all his family. The successful assassin 
placed himself on the throne, but was deposed and 
put to death within a month, and the army began 

to search for some member of the rightful family 

361 



862 Khiliji^ The Sanguinary. 

to fill the vacant seat. After considerable delay, 
the choice fell upon Farokhsad, a young prince 
whose brief life had been spent mainly in prison, 
in consequence of the civil wars and jealousies 
that had rent the country from the time of 
Mahmoud's death. 

During these troublous j^ears nearly all the ac- 
quisitions of the great Mahmoud had been lost; 
all the cities east of the Sutlej, Lahore, the Pun- 
jaub, and Nargacot, the seat of the magnificent 
temples of Sumnat destroyed by Mahmoud, had 
successively passed into possession of their former 
owners, and disaffection everywhere prevailed 
among the Hindu subjects of the Afghan em- 
peror, while the incursions of the Seljuks, a power- 
ful tribe of Tartars on the north of the Oxus, 
were constantly becoming more ominous and 
harassing. Such was the condition of the country 
over whose affairs the j^oung Farokhsad was called 
to preside : and though his brief six years' reign 
was quiet, and even prosperous compared with sev- 
eral that had preceded his accession, he fell at 
last by the hands of an assassin. He was suc- 
ceeded A. D. 1058, by his brother, the wise, peace- 
loving Ibrahim, whose peaceful and prosperous 



Ibrahim. 365 

reign of forty-one years was fruitful of the best 
results for his country and people, but leaves 
slender material for the historian's pen. Only a 
single militar}^ expedition of any note is recorded 
of all these years of Ibrahim's reign ^ — an expe- 
dition to the Sutlej, resulting in the capture of 
several cities from the Hindus. The great desire 
of this monarch seems to have been for peace, 
coupled with the wise administration of the affairs 
of his realm, the happiness of his people, and the 
encouragement of learning. He died A. D. 1089, 
and was succeeded by Majsaud H., whose quiet 
reign of fifteen years was spent in legislating and 
improving the condition of his subjects, and was 
marked by no great military exploits. Arslan suc- 
ceeded his father for a few months, beginning his 
brief interval of power by imprisoning all his 
brothers, and ending it by meeting himself a 
bloody death. He was succeeded by his brother 
Behram, who was placed by the Seljuk Sultan on 
the throne. During a reign of rather more than 
twenty years he gathered about his court philos- 
ophers, poets, and learned men, by whose influence 
on the character of the people they began to cul- 
tivate the arts of peace, and no longer to regard 



366 Khiliji^ The Sanguinary, 

conquest and an increase of territory as the 
chief good to be attained. But this wise and 
peaceful reign set under a cloud of treachery and 
blood that forever obscured its early lustre. This 
dire event was the murder by the king of his son- 
in-law, Kutb-u-din, the prince of Ghor, a crime 
that provoked the vengeance of the Ghor princes, 
and led ultimately to the murder of a second 
prince, the brother of the first. As the conse- 
quence of this double crime, Behram was driven 
from Ghazni by Ala-u-din, younger brother of the 
murdered Ghors, and obliged to take refuge in his 
Indian possessions, where he shortly after died of 
grief. He was succeeded by his son, Khosru, who 
ruled over the Indian portion of the Empire from 
1124 to 1130, while Ala-u-din reigned at Ghazni, 
neither seeming to be molested by the other. 
Khosru Malik succeeded his father Khosru, enjoy- 
ing a quiet, tranquil reign of twenty-seven years, 
at the end of which he was attacked by the Ghor 
kings, and subsequently defeated and slain. From 
this period, A. D. 1157, the kingdom of Lahore was 
again annexed to the Ghaznivide territory, gov- 
erned by the new line of kings, beginning with 
Gheias-u-din, the " Ghorian Sultan of Ghazni and 



GJieias-u-din. 367 

Lahore*" This reign lasting forty-five years, was 
productive of vast results, especially in the con- 
quest of Indian territory. The Sultan had an 
able assistant in his brother Shahib, to whose great 
military ability is due the success that attended 
the Afghan arms at this period. Delhi was the 
first point attacked, and resisted bravely in the 
outset, but fell at last with their Rajah a prisoner, 
and a terrible rout of their troops. This victory 
was followed by others in quick succession. First 
Canouj, then Gwalior in Bundelcund, portions of 
Rohilcund, and the next year the rich provinces of 
Oudh, Behar and Bengal. 

At the death of Gheias-u-din, his brother suc- 
ceeded, in the year 1202, to the throne his great 
military exploits had made so glorious during 
Gheias-u-din's forty-five years of sovereignty. Sha- 
hib was scarcely established in his kingly position 
before difficulties in his western possessions in- 
volved him in war with the Sultan of Kharism, 
which terminated unfavorably for Shahib-u-diu ; 
and while preparing for a new expedition he was 
assassinated, having reigned only four years. 

His nephew, Mahmoud Ghori, was at once pro- 
claimed king, A. D. 1206 ; but his rule was con- 



368 KJiiliji^ The Sanguinary. 

fined to the Glior countr}^, and he resigned his 
claim to the possession of India by voluntarily re- 
linquishing the insignia of royalty to Kutb-u-din, 
the viceroy of India, then resident at Delhi. Thus 
India became an independent power, and the line 
of the " Slave Kings of Delhi," began in the per- 
son of Kutb-u-din. 

This monarch had, in his youth, been a slave of 
the great general Shalnb, who highly appreciating 
the many noble qualities of his bondsman, had 
promoted him from time to time, till he was ulti- 
mately made viceroy of Delhi. This post he had 
filled with honor and ability for twenty years, 
when, by the voluntary relinquishment of Mah- 
moud Ghori, he became king. A good and useful 
reign of four years was terminated by the lamented 
death of Kutb-u-din A. D. 1210, when he was suc- 
ceeded by his son Aran. This prince was, how- 
ever, shortly after deposed for inefficiency, and 
Altamsh, the son-in-law of Kutb-u-din was put in 
his place. 

Altamsh, too, had been a slave, promoted for his 
talents and courage; and the confidence of the 
people, in placing him on the throne, seems to have 
been warranted by his subsequent career, though 



Jenghis Khan. 369 

few details have come down to us beyond the re- 
volts of Behar, Malwar and Gwalior, all of which 
were successfully quelled by the decision and 
firmness of the sovereign. It was during the 
reign of Altamsh that the raids of Jenghis Khan 
and his Mogul hordes over other portions of Asia 
began to excite alarm for the safety of the Indian 
monarchy. Altamsh died at Delhi, about A. D. 
1234, and was succeeded by his son Ruku-u-din, a 
weak, dissipated prince, who was shortly deposed 
in favor of his sister Rezia. Prejudices 'against 
her sex excited factions, followed by a civil war, 
during which the Sultana was made prisoner, and 
wantonly slain. Two short reigns of Behram and 
Massaud followed, with no noteworthy events save 
the attempted invasion of India, at several points, 
by the Moguls, and their being repelled without 
serious results. 

Nasir-u-din, a grandson of Altamsh, was the 
next sovereign, coming to the throne in 1246, and 
reigning for about twenty years. His vizier, a 
former Turkish slave of Altamsh, seems to have 
been the real head of the government, and a man 
fitted by his brilliant talents for the important 
position. He promptly quelled revolt whenever it 



370 Khiliji^ The Sanguinary, 

arose, and effectually checked the advances of the 
Moguls at every point. In a word, he made hnn- 
self so necessar}^ to his country that at the death 
of Nasir-u-din, A. D. 1266, the vizier, Gheias-a-din 
Bulbun stepped, without opposition, into the vacant 
place. His reign, lasting twenty years, was full of 
insurrections and wars within and without, but the 
vizier-king seems always to have been equal to the 
occasion, and his administration, though marked 
with severity towards all he suspected of being 
opposed to his interests, was nevertheless pro- 
motive of the prosperity and aggrandizement of 
the country. 

His successor, Kai-Kobad, was the last of the 
" Slave Kings," and reigning but a short time, was 
followed by three monarchs of the house of Khiliji. 
The reigns of these kings were a succession of 
plots, intrigues and murders, but were marked 
also by several great military exploits. During 
the reign of the second of the Khiliji sovereigns, 
Allah-u-din, several of the independent Rajahs 
were reduced to subjection and compelled to pay 
tribute ; and the Moguls of his army, to the 
number of fifteen thousand, were dismissed from 
his service and driven from the country. This 



Conquest of Malabar. 371 

measure, hailed at first as one promising onl}^ 
good to the Indian people, was afterwards, no 
doubt, the cause of more vengeful ire on the part 
of the Moguls, leading them, as soon as they had 
gained a footing on Indian soil, to greater cruelties 
and excesses than they might otherwise have com- 
mitted. 

The death of Allah-u-din, which occurred in 
A. D. 1316, was believed to have been occasioned 
by poison administered by his favorite general, 
who immediately had the infant son of Allah pro- 
claimed king. This was, however, declared invalid 
by the nobles and army of Delhi who caused 
Mubarik, the eldest son of their late king, to be 
crowned with all due honors ; the child, who had 
been the puppet of the suspected general, was pri- 
vately executed, and tranquillity was for the time 
restored. 

The conquest of the whole Malabar country 
was the - first act of the new king, covering his 
name with glory ; but the next step, that of ap- 
pointing as his chief officer a low Hindu named 
Mallek Khosru, cost him first the confidence of his 
people, and then his own life. Mallek conspired 
against his royal master, and before his designs 



372 IChiliJi, The SanguinarT/, 

were even suspected, he had taken the lives of 
King Mubarik and every member of the royal 
family. The traitor was executed of course, and 
his adherents disbanded and banished from the 
country. But the throne was vacant, the royal 
house of Khiliji was extinct, and a new dynasty 
was to be inaugurated — that of the House of 
Toghlak. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE TOGHLAK DYKASTY. 

AFTER the assassination of Mubarik and his 
family, the extermination was so complete 
that it became necessary to elect a king from 
another family : and the choice of the nobles fell 
upon one of their own number, Gheias-u-din 
Toghlak, then governor of the Punjaub. He had 
already acquired a high reputation, not only for 
his military skill, but his wise statesmanship as 
governor had won for him a wide-spread confi- 
dence that during his brief reign was well-sus- 
tained. The Moguls, still threatening the north- 
western border, were promptly repulsed, and 
another line of ramparts thrown up by the new 
sovereign all along the Afghan border. He also 
annexed the territory of Dacca to his dominion ; 

373 



374 The Toglilah Dynasty, 

and on his return from this expedition he was 
welcomed by his eldest son, in a new bungalow 
erected for the occasion, under the pretext of do- 
ing honor to his father and sovereign. But there 
were strong suspicions of premeditated treachery 
on the part of the son who, by the death of his 
father, secured a diadem for himself. Gheias-u-din 
had reigned only four years ; and his son, Moham- 
med Toghlak, succeeded him A. D. 1325. The first 
acts of the new king evinced the great ability for 
which he was noted ; and his patronage of men of 
learning was quite in accordance with his fine lit- 
erary tastes. 

An army of Moguls, who had effected a landing 
in the Punjaub, were bought off by the payment 
of a large sum of money ; the subjugation of the 
Deccan, begun by the father, was completed by 
the son, and good order was instituted in every 
part of the kingdom, even to the most remote 
borders. But other steps followed less advan- 
tageous to the interests of the country. The king 
invaded Persia with a large army, and then at- 
tempted the conquest of China, but returned from 
both expeditions suffering from terrible defeats, 
and the loss and disaffection of a large portion of 




i'looiiiiiu tiniiLiJiujii, jijiiiuuiuijjiiii] Lmaajaijaijijjfc'iisiiiiiiwiiteiill 



Death of Mohammed, 377 

the splendid armies with which he had set out. 
To meet the expenses of all these aggressive meas- 
ures his people were excessively taxed, and cruelly 
oppressed ; the currency was altered in a manner 
that induced general discontent, and everywhere, 
during the next dozen years, there were revolts 
and outbreaks among his subjects that kept the 
monarch busy and anxious. Many of the insur- 
rections he succeeded in quelling ; but the people 
of Bengal, the Carnatic, and Malabar country, 
boldly defied the authority of the tyrant, and 
maintained their independence. In the midst of 
all this disaffection and discord, Mohammed died 
suddenlj^, A. D. 1351, after a busy and troublous 
reign of about twenty-six years, during which, 
despite his undoubted ability both as general and 
statesman, a large portion of the territory gained by 
his father was lost to the crown. Mohammed's death 
was said to have been caused by a surfeit of fish ; but 
so embittered against him were his officers and the 
mass of his people that there existed strong suspi- 
cion of poison having been used to rid the country 
of the hated tyrant. As he left no immediate 
family, his nephew, Firuz Toghlak, was chosen to 
succeed him. The character of Firuz seems to 



378 The Toghlak Dynasty. 

have been different in every respect from that of 
his uncle. With no ambition for conquest or mili- 
tary glory, he devoted himself to the interests of 
his people and country with untiring fidelity, re- 
versing the oppressive acts of the last reign, and 
seeking rather to add to the resources of the king- 
dom than to its territorial extent. His long reign 
of nearly forty years was fruitful of results in the 
prosperity and happiness of all classes of his sub- 
jects. From increasing years and infirmity, the 
cares of sovereignty became at length burdensome, 
and twice after Firuz had passed his eighty-sixth 
year he resigned the reins of government to other 
hands, but was compelled to resume them again. 
First, his vizier, and then his son had been en- 
trusted with the administration, but both proving 
unfaithful, the minister was banished, and the son 
had to flee for his life from the just indignation of 
the nobles ; and the aged king, then lacking only 
a year or two of ninety, once more placed himself 
at the helm of state. When his death occurred, 
about the year 1390, the succession of his son, who 
had so disgraced his position previous to his 
father's death, was opposed by the nobles ; and two 
grandsons of Firuz, reigned successively, but each 



Tamerlane,' • 879 

only for a few months, after which, Nasir, the 
reprobate son of Firuz, returning, w^as proclaimed 
king. He reigned for three years, and was suc- 
ceeded by his eldest son, Humayun, who lived only 
forty-five days after his accession, and was followed 
by his brother, Mahmoud, A. D 1394 ; four reigns 
between the death of Firuz and the proclamation 
of Mahmoud having filled little more than three 
and a half years. The new king was yet a minor 
when he ascended the throne, and the country was in 
so unsettled a state that when the states of Malwar, 
Guzerat, and Juanpoor revolted, the king had no 
power to compel their allegiance, and the speedy 
dissolution of the empire was feared. Before 
order could be restored at home the danger from 
without, that had been so long impending, was 
fully realized. The great conqueror, Tamerlane or 
Timur Bee, having already overrun Persia and 
Mesopotamia, and some portions of Russia and 
Siberia, with his immense hordes of Tartars, now 
(a. d. 1398), turned his face toward India, and 
sent forward his grandson. Fir Mohammed, to pre- 
pare the way for the main body of the invaders. 
The whole of the Punjaub was devastated by 
these lawless Tartars, and the fortified city of 



380 The Toghlah Dynasty, 

Moulton occupied by Mohammed, while Tamerlane, 
after effecting a passage across the mountain defiles 
and crossing the Indus at Attok, reached Samana, 
having cruelly butchered the inhabitants in great 
numbers in every town through which he passed. 
He next united his forces with those of his grand- 
son, and marched on Delhi, where Mahmoud was 
waiting with a great army and a retinue of ele- 
phants to receive him. But though the Indian 
army fought bravel}^, they were utterly defeated, 
and the slaughter was immense. Mahmoud fled to 
Guzerat, where he was hospitably received, as 
though the state had still been in fealty to the 
crown ; but the shattered army submitted to the 
conqueror, as emperor of India, and made terms to 
remain in Delhi after his proclamation. The 
plunder and butchery of the inhabitants by the 
Tartars went on even after the city had capitu- 
lated ; and historians say that " some streets were 
rendered impassable by heaps of dead ; and the 
gates being forced, the whole invading army gained 
admittance, and a scene of the utmost horror en- 
sued." Acquisition of territory seems to have 
been no part of Tamerlane's programme, but 
merely the fame of a conqueror, with such treasure 



Lodi Dynasty, 881 

as he was able to carry with him on his way to 
meet other foes. Leaving Delhi, and taking with 
him all the booty he could collect, and a long 
train of captives of all ranks, he marched up the 
banks of the Ganges, across Lahore into the 
Ghazni country, by the same route he had followed 
on entering India, which he "found a garden and 
left a desert," with the additional bequests of fam- 
ine and pestilence. When the conqueror was 
gone, a new cause of dispute and even bloodshed 
arose as to the occupancy of the vacant throne ; 
but Mahmoud reasserted his claim, and assumed 
the reins of government. His death followed in a 
few years, and with him ended the Toghlak 
dynasty. Several brief, unimportant reigns, those 
of Khizer Khan and his sons and grandsons, fol- 
lowed, and then the Lodi dynasty was ushered in 
by the accession of Behlol Lodi, a governor of the 
Punjaub, descended from an Afghan family of 
rank, whose influence had been sufficient to cause 
the deposing of Seyd Allah, the last king. 

Behlol's reign of twenty-eight years was prosper- 
ous and beneficial to the country, but not fruitful 
of important events. He was succeeded by his 
wise and prudent son, Secander, whose vigorous 



382 The Toghlak Bynmiy, 

policy not only retained intact the conquests of 
his father, but added to them the territory of 
Behar. The great fault of liis administration was 
his bitter persecution of the Brahmins, an evil 
that was zealously prosecuted by his son and suc- 
cessor, Ibrahim Lodi, who came to the throne at 
the death of his father, A. D. 1516, His cruelty 
and oppression soon drove the nobles into open re- 
bellion, and induced them to invite the interfer- 
ence of Baber, a descendant of Tamerlane, then 
reigning at Ghazni. Baber very willingly re- 
sponded, and at the head of a well-appointed army 
crossed the Indus. Advancing toward Delhi, he 
was met by Ibrahim, with an army in numbers far 
superior to his own ; but by superior tactics, and 
better disciplined troops, the Tartar chief gained 
the day, and Ibrahim Lodi, the last of his dynasty 
and the last of the Afghan race of Indian mon- 
archs, fell on the battle-field, leaving Baber in quiet 
possession of the throne and . the empire. He at 
once decided to fix his court at Delhi, and to live 
permanently among his Indian subjects, hoping 
thereby not only to strengthen his position but to 
add to his territory. 

Baber, the '' Tiger," of mixed Tartar and Mogul 



Baher, the Tiger, 385 

descent, the first resident emperor of Tartan blood 
was descended in a direct line from Tamerlane on 
liis father's side, and from Jeiighis Khan, the 
Mogul conqueror, on his mother's, thus uniting in 
his own person not only the claims, but many of 
the talents, with the indomitable resolution and 
untiring perseverance of both his famous ances- 
tors 



CHAPTER XV. 



EUEOPEAN TRADE. 



BEFORE entering on this new race of rulers, 
the Tartan Emperors of India, let us pause 
to look at the beginning of European intercourse 
with the people of that great country. Though, 
as before stated, India sent, even in the daj^s of the 
Patriarchs, of her gold, spices, and manufactures, 
for the supply of the nations of Western Asia, 
and though centuries before our era, there seems to 
have existed an overland communication between 
India and Arabia and Persia, yet, to the times of 
Alexander the Great, and his eastern expedition, 
India remained in the fullest sense a terra incog- 
nita to the people of Europe. With his great 
conquests, Alexander carried at least a measure 
of civilization ; and almost our first glimpses of the 

386 



Alexander's Coiiquests, 38T 

rich, hoary lands of the sun were the reports that 
floated westward with the return of the Mace- 
donian army. But for the early death of Alex- 
ander, an empire might have arisen and a pros- 
perous trade been opened at once as the fruit of his 
exploits. As it was, all this eastern trade remained 
in the hands of Arab and Egyptian merchants for 
several centuries longer; and the route was mainly 
by way of the Red Sea, the Nile, and the Mediter- 
ranean, the chief ports being Berenice, Coptos, 
and Alexandria. 

There were, however, two other outlets for this 
Indian trade, but both were difficult and danger- 
ous routes, and the traffic limited. The first route 
was through Persia and Arabia to the Syrian cities, 
the only halting-place being " Tadmor of the 
Desert " as called in Bible days, or Palmyra, as 
known to us, and so named from the luxuriant 
growth of its abundant palms. It was doubtless 
its Indian trade that raised Palmyra to such im- 
portance as to excite the jealousy of imperial 
Rome, and provoked the destructive war that 
ended in the capture of the noble queen, Zenobia, 
the devastation of the grand old cit}^, and the ex- 
tinction of the trade begun in the days of the 



388 European Trade. 

Patriarchs. The other route, and one still used to 
convey to Russian cities immense quantities of the 
silks, shawls, muslins, and spices of India, was by 
the rocky passes of the Hindu Koorsh Mountains 
and Caspian Sea, and thence on by various land and 
water routes to the points of destination. Trav- 
ellers by both these routes suffered in those lawless 
times from the ravages of banditti, and the con- 
quests of the Roman emperors ; and for a time 
the trade greatly declined, but it was revived 
by the removal of the seat of government from 
Rome to Constantinople, and later by the invasions 
of the Saracens. These enterprising conquerors 
were active in forming commercial depots, and open- 
ing a trade where natural facilities existed ; but were 
too much absorbed in military operations to follow up 
such openings, that were left for the benefit of those 
less shackled with conflicting enterprises. Turkish 
rulers w^ere content with the commercial greatness 
of their capital as the centre of trade at that 
period ; the bold and hardy Arabs had revived 
their trade through Egypt, and by way of the Red 
Sea on into India ; and the Venetians in Egypt 
were beginning to share in the Indian trade, when 
the great discoverers of the fifteenth century 



Vasco de Gama, 389 

opened a new world for commerce as for other im- 
portant enterprises. 

Christopher Columbus, searching for the East, 
found a new world in the West ; and Diaz found a 
route to India by the " Cape of Storms." Eleven 
years later, (A. D. 1498), while the Lodi dynasty 
of Afghan kings were ruling in India, the first 
Portuguese expedition for India, under the com- 
mand of Vasco de Gama, sailed from Lisbon 
around this same Cape of Storms. Diaz had given 
this name in consequence of the terrible stormy 
weather that had so nearly made shipwreck of his 
little fleet ; but De Gama found favoring breezes 
that he deemed good omens of future success, and 
so conferred the new cognomen that has ever since 
belonged to the " Cape of Good Hope." Ten long 
months from the sailing of Vasco de Gama's fleet 
elapsed before it anchored in the roads of Calicut 
on the Malabar coast ; but the rich cargo of beauti- 
ful India goods they were able to take back repaid 
the navigators for all the dangers they had braved. 
The king of Portugal was jubilant over the success 
of his first venture upon the eastern seas ; but the 
merchants of Egj^pt and Italy looked on with un- 
disguised alarm!* 

* iNIalcolm's " Indian Mutiny." 



390 European Trade. 

The monopoly of the eastern seas was plainly 
at an end. Despite the complicity of Venetian 
merchants with Egyptian Mamelukes, despite even 
the opposition of the buccaneering Moorish traders 
who had so long monopolized the commerce of the 
Indian seas, this broad field for national and in- 
dividual enterprise was now open to the competi- 
tion of the world. King Emmanuel of Portugal, 
whose subjects had been the first to enter the field, 
was aware equally of the advantages and the 
dangers of his new position ; and every fleet went 
manned and armed for fighting, as well as for trad- 
ing. The expedition commanded by Alvarez de 
Cabral, that followed that of De Gama, numbered 
thirteen sail, and carried upwards of a thousand 
soldiers ; and De Cabral was empowered to nego- 
tiate with the Zamorin of Calicut, " with the view 
of obtaining permission to form a settlement for 
trading purposes within his territories." This he 
readily accomplished ; a treaty was arranged be- 
tween the Portuguese settlers and the Zamorin, and 
the former had already opened within the city a 
factory for trade, when the native populace, incited 
by the Moors, attacked the little colony of Portu- 
guese, and cruelly murdered all the residents of the 




o- 



Calicut Threatened, 393 

factory. This treachery Avas promptly avenged by 
De Cabral, who, turning his guns first upon the 
Moorish vessels lying under the walls of Calicut, 
and then upon the defenceless city, nearly annihi- 
lated both, until the Zamorin was glad to purchase 
a cessation of hostilities by a new treaty far more 
favorable to the Portuguese than the first had 
been. Besides this, the promptitude and success of 
this operation so impressed the neighboring princes 
that the}^ readily entered into friendly treaties with 
the Portuguese sovereign, and permitted trading 
factories to be established all along the Malabar 
coast, giving to this pioneer nation the prestige 
and supremacy they so long enjoj'ed. 

The next Portuguese expedition was " a fleet of 
twenty sail, all good ships, and royally found," 
under the command of Vasco de Gama, who 
opened friendly relations with many native princes 
and left the interests of his government in India 
on a firmer basis of prosperity than they had be- 
fore enjoyed. The inefficiency and maladministra- 
tion of Loche, the officer left by De Gama in 
charge of the settlements, soon brought trouble 
upon the little colony ; but prosperity was restored 
by the appointment of Albuquerque as Captain- 



394 European Trade. 

general, and his wise and prudent administration. 
The promulgation of a papal " bull," couched in 
most arrogant and offensive terms, and assigning 
to the king of Portugal " the sovereignty of India 
with all its people and possessions," so excited the 
just indignation otP"- those proud oriental potentates, 
that they made common cause with each other and 
determined on the utter extermination of the in- 
terlopers ; a resolve that, but for the wise and con- 
ciliatory conduct of Albuquerque, would probably 
have been carried into effect. Under the excellent 
administration of this able superintendent, not 
only were the name and reputation of the Portu- 
guese restored to their old footing, but new acces- 
sions of territory were made ; Goa was taken, and 
strongly fortified, and many powerful native princes 
offered their friendly alliance, while the Portuguese 
ports were filled with shipping and alive with 
thrifty trade. The death of Albuquerque, a man 
reverenced and esteemed by natives as well as by 
foreigners, occurred after a brilliant rule of only 
five years, and was followed by the advent of 
of&cers less faithful and less efficient, greatly to 
the detriment of the Portuguese interests. The 
death of king Emmanuel, and the accession of his 



The Portuguese. 395 

successor, was succeeded by tlie appointment of 
the veteran De Gam a, under the title of Count de 
Vidigueyra, to the Captain-generalship of the 
Indian colony, for which he sailed immediately on 
his third and last Indian campaign. Though he 
lived but three months after his arrival, his coming 
was, productive of the happiest results ; advantages 
that were, however, soon lost by the misrule of 
inefficient governors, till the once prosperous colony 
was on the verge of dissolution. Corruption and 
oppression ruled in high places, and the total lack 
of integrity and good faith shown by the Portu- 
guese toward their Indian allies had so widened 
the breach between them that reconciliation seemed 
impossible ; while the notorious cruelties and 
oppressions of De Souza were remembered only 
with threats of vengeance by both natives and 
Europeans. War had already been declared 
against the Portaguese settlers by the Rajahs of 
Guzerat and the Deccan, who had also laid siege 
to one of their towns, when the opportune arrival 
of De Castro gave a new aspect to affairs in gen- 
eral. The new viceroy at once raised the siege, 
and defeated the besieging army with great slaugh- 
ter, and then pushed the war so successfully into 



396 European Trade, 

the enemy's country as to compel the sovereigns 
of Guzerat and the Deccan to sue for peace. 
This decisive action towards the foes of his coun- 
try was followed b}^ a wise and conciliatory policy 
that made the viceroy every day new friends, and 
so reversed the state of anarchy in which he had 
found the colony, that " never at any other period 
of their Indian history could the Portuguese be 
said to have attained an equal measure of pros- 
perity as during the wise rule of De Castro. 
Their ports were crowded with shipping, their 
factories teemed with produce and merchandise, 
and on all sides were heard the sounds of busy in- 
dustry." De Castro seems to have united in a 
wonderful degree the excellences of two rival 
professions — those of a military chieftain and a 
civil ruler — in both of which he was alike brill- 
iant and exemplary. His famous victory over the 
Moors, at Diu, was celebrated by the poet Camoens ; 
and a beautiful statue to his memory was erected 
at Goa. He died at Goa, A. D. 1547, during the 
reign of Humayun, the father of Akbar the 
Great. 

It was about this period that the celebrated 
monk, Francis Xavier, in the interests of Jesuit 



jSt. Francis Xavier. 397 

missions, established himself in Goa, and prose- 
lyted large numbers to a nominal Christianity in 
an incredibly short period, of time. He exerted 
also a wide influence in political matters, and 
helped to carry out the plans of civil reform in- 
augurated by De Castro. But after the death of 
the viceroy, the efforts of Xavier were not suffi- 
cient to check the tide of corruption that again 
overspread the land, and threatened to engulf its 
very existence ; a calamity that was hastened by 
two causes of very opposite character. The first 
of these was the establishment of the Inquisition 
at Goa — that engine of bigotry and evil passions 
that inflicted upon this fair land tortures and suf- 
fering far worse than those of heathenism ; and 
that made the very name of Christian an offence 
and a reproach to its friends, and a bitter taunt 
upon the lips of its enemies. The Inquisition had 
already become an Indo-Portuguese institution in 
the days of Don Sebastian ; but by the accession 
of the bigoted and sanguinary Philip it received 
a terrible impulse, that deluged in tears of blood 
one of earth's fairest domains, and caused the 
native converts to turn with horror from the 
bloody standard of this so-called Christian faith to 



398 European Trade, 

embrace that of the more merciful Moslem or 
Hindu. 

The other cause of the decay of Portuguese 
power in India was the advent of Dutch oriental 
enterprise, and the formation of an East India 
Company, for the protection of its foreign trade. 
The prudent, plodding Hollanders were just the 
people to profit by the reports that soon spread 
concerning the trade and possessions of the Portu- 
guese in India ; and they at once fitted out and 
dispatched a fleet of merchant ships to secure a 
share of the costly spoils of the Orient. From 
the arrival in India of this first armament from 
Holland may be dated the decline of the Indo- 
Portuguese Empire ; while the power of the 
Dutch increased steadily, and waxed stronger with 
the passing years, gaining continually in favor with 
the native princes, especially those ruling on the 
Malabar and Coromandel coasts. 

In the very footsteps of the Dutch came the 
English, the fame of "the lands of the sun " hav- 
ing reached also across the British waters, and 
gained eager credence among London merchants 
and capitalists. The advantages of procuring 
India goods by direct route in their own ships, in- 



The East India Company. 899 

stead of through the Venetians, or by Turkish 
ports, were too apparent not to find ready advo- 
cates. Accordingly, in A. D. 1600, five years before 
the close of the reign of the great Akbar, a com- 
pany of London merchants formed themselves into 
an association for foreign trade, with a capital of 
^369,891, or nearly 11,850,000, and obtained from 
Queen Elizabeth, then Sovereign of Great Britian, 
a charter, under the style of " The Governor and 
Company of Merchants of London trading to the 
East Ladies." This was the basis of the " British 
East India Company " that for two centuries and 
a half controlled almost the entire foreign trade 
of Great Britian, and grew at length into such a 
mammoth concern, such a complication of enter- 
prises, prerogatives and abuses, as to render its 
dissolution a matter of necessity. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

INDIAN EACES. 

PAUSING in onr history to consider the origin, 
character, and abodes of some of the numer- 
ous races of India, who seem generally to have 
filled the leading parts of the great drama, we find 
the Rajputs stand out prominently as the ruling 
race. Few nations have a history so replete with 
heroic deeds and unflinching patriotism as the 
Rajputs of Meywar. They alone of all the Indian 
races refused to bow before Mohammedan des- 
potism ; and despite the most horrible persecutions, 
they proudly maintained their independence ; 
which was proof equally against the blandish- 
ments of imperial favor, and the furious onslaught 
of the armed foe. 

Kashatrya is a name that belonged originally to 

400 




CAR OF JUGGERNATH. 



The Rajputs. 403 

the Aryan race of warriors, who, in company with 
the Brahmins or priests, established themselves on 
the lofty table-lands of Hindustan some two 
thousand j^ears before our era. This title of 
Kashatrya is now claimed by the Rajputs, together 
with a descent from the god Rama, the conqueror 
of Lanka, who was the king of the " Race of the 
Sun," at the date of the first colonization of India 
by the Aryans. It is now believed that the inva- 
sion of India occurred at a somewhat later period 
than that claimed by its own records ; but 
whether the ancient Kashatryas are the veritable 
ancestors of the modern Rajputs, it is impossible 
now to determine. In opposition to the Rajput 
theory, the Brahmins contend that several centu- 
ries before our era the Kashatryas' were all 
destroyed in a general up-rising of the other castes, 
by a decree of Parasourama, an incarnation of 
Vishnu. Yet another theory, advanced by several 
historians, is, that these redoubtable Rajputs, who 
have generally managed to gain the day in their 
constantly-recurring disputes, are none other than 
the descendants of the Scythian tribes who, com- 
ing over in small parties, at different periods, 
gained a footing and formed colonies along the 



404 Indian Maces. 

western frontier of India. In favor of this last 
theory, it is alleged that both in physique and 
many of their national customs, as also in their 
fairer complexion, the Rajputs more nearly re- 
semble the Parthians and Scythians than they do 
any of the Hindu races ; while their religious 
creed inclines to the Jam type, and their older 
traditions make frequent reference to Mount 
Aboo. Though there are now no well-authorized 
data upon which to base any positive decision of 
these mooted points, it is certain that the Rajputs 
did not make their debut upon the political stage 
of India prior to the sixth century, and that, if 
not destroyed, they were at least supplanted by 
the Mauryas, and other races of Soudras, who suc- 
cessively occupied the imperial throne of Magadha. 
Between the sixth and seventh centuries, however, 
the Rajputs, who had remained for a long time 
quietly settled on the banks of the Indus, began 
to cast adrift and to make their power felt in the 
struggle for position. The Chohans and Rahtores 
took possession of Canouj and Delhi ; the Chan- 
delas, of Mai war ; and the Ghelotes and Baghelas, 
of Mey war and Guzerat ; and it was at about this 



Oudeypore. 405 

period that tlie Rajputs first began publicly to 
claim the title of Kashatrya. 

Oudeypore, the capital of Meywar, has an 
elevated position on the water-shed between the 
Bombay and Bengal Presidencies. Its surround- 
ings of lofty hills, and its outlook upon a lovely 
lake with island palaces, water gardens and tem- 
ples, secure for it the reputation of being the 
fairest sight in Rajputana. The city has a salubri- 
ous climate, with a population of about thirty- 
eight thousand inhabitants, who, in common with 
all the people of this native state of Meywar, are 
noted for their manliness and independence of 
character. Mons. Rousselet, writing of his late 
visit, says : " At length we passed around the last 
hill, and Oudeypore, the capital of Meywar, lay 
before us. My men shouted and danced for joy. 
As for myself, I stood in ecstasy, gazing at the 
sublime panorama spread out at my feet. Never 
had I even hoped to see anything so beautiful. It 
resembled one of the fairy cities of the ' Arabian 
Nights.' In the foreground, a long line of forts, 
pagodas, and palaces stood out from a background 
of gardens, above which appeared the town, a 
fantastic assemblage of bell-turrets, towers, and 



406 Indian Races, 

kiosks built up the side of a pyramidal hill, on the 
summit of which was an immense palace of white 
marble, in striking contrast with the dark blue tints 
of the mountains behind it. This palace, with its 
perfect proportions and great magnitude seems to 
soar, like a New Jerusalem, above a terrestrial citv." 
Neither pen nor pencil can portray the marvellous 
splendor of this superb town, so justh^ named 
Oudeypore, " City of the Rising Sun."* At- 
tractive as is the prospect, desolate ravines, that 
guard the entrance, must first be crossed ere this 
terrestrial paradise can be entered. But when 
these have been left behind the visitor is richly re- 
paid by the enchanting vision of temples, palaces, 
arches, columns, and a thousand 'objects of interest 
that every where challenge his admiration, not alone 
for their intrinsic beauty, but as the surroundings 
of a most remarkable race of truly regal princes. 
The late Maharana Sambhoo Singh, who died 
when scarcely in his prime, was among his country- 
men a personage of note — a Rajput Ghelote, of 
the clan Sesoudias, the recognized representative 
of the Souriavanses, the famous Indian " Race of 
the Sun." This was the noble prince who was in 

* India and its Native Princes, page 145. 




:- j»q .Rg ,<v'.'. 



■HI'''' 



The Rajah of Rajputana. 409 

power at the time of M. Rousselet's visit. The 
present Rajah Maharana, who received the Prince 
of Wales so handsomely, is a cousin of the last, 
and his adopted heir. He is described by Russell, 
as " tall, good-looking, and very fair — of fairer 
hue than the average Europeans of the South, of 
very dignified manners and carriage, with an air as 
if he were conscious of his origin, and meant to 
keep up the traditions of his house." Tod says 
of this family, that they are the representatives of 
the only dynasty which, with the exception of 
Jaisalmir, " outlived eight centuries of foreign 
domination in the same land where conquest 
placed them ; and who now hold the territory 
their ancestors held when the conqueror from 
Ghazni first crossed the blue waters of the Indus 
to invade India." 

Such is the estimation in which this very aristo- 
cratic sovereign is held by the other races of his 
own country that marriage with a daughter of 
his house can be had only at the cost of a prov- 
ince. Sir Thomas Roe gravely asserts, that this 
most royal house is descended from Porus; they 
themselves, that they come of celestial origin ; and 
everybody who looks into the pedigree of this 



410 Indian Races. 

Maharana of Oudeypore concurs in the opinion 
that it is the very oldest in the world, as he cer- 
tainly belongs to the highest race in India. His 
every motion is that of a king to the sceptre born ; 
and though in the first years of young manhood, 
he displays great energy and force of character. 
His usual dress is pure white — turban, robe, and 
pantaloons ; sometimes embroidered silk or satin, 
and at others, the finest linen or India muslin ; but 
there is always the golden belt set with magnifi- 
cent diamonds, the aigrette of other diamonds still 
more superb and costly on his head-dress, and 
upon neck and* arms strings of huge pearls, rubies 
and other precious stones of priceless value. The 
Sirdars of his suite wear green satin and brocade, 
with white silk turbans, and jewels as handsome, if 
not altogether so costly as those of their chief. The 
state contains eleven thousand six hundred and four- 
teen square miles, with a population of one million 
one hundred and sixty -eight thousand inhabitants ; 
and a revenue of 12,000,000, of which $100,000 is 
paid in taxes to the British Government. 

Besides the illustrious descent of this royal 
house, their importance arises from yet another 



The Head of Indian Nobility. 411 

source. For this family not only opposed the 
Mussulman invasion, but they preserved their 
purity of caste at the cost of blood and treasure, 
by sundering, during all the Mohammedan rule, 
every form of connection with the imperial family, 
which many other Indian princes eagerly accepted. 
This has placed the Maharana of Oudeypore at 
the very head of the Indian nobility, and given 
him many additional honors and prerogatives. In 
assemblies of the Rajput princes, he always occu- 
pies the seat of honor, and takes precedence in 
speaking. He is also the arbiter of disputes on 
all national points, and from his decision there is 
no appeal. Among the genealogical claims of the 
Ranas, are two which, if well-founded, may justify 
the name they have assumed, its signification being 
" Sons of Kings." They claim connection with 
the kings of Persia, through a daughter of the last 
Chosroes, the great Noushirvan, who married one 
of the Ranas ; and with the Roman emperors of 
Constantinople in the same way, through the mar- 
riage of an imperial maiden with another of the 
Maharanas of Oudeypore. These claims are said 
to be well authenticated ; and further, there is 
probably " not another family in the world that 



412 Indiayi Races, 

possesses a pedigree so correctly traced from fabu- 
lous times as that of the Ranas of Chittore and 
Oudeypore." Here also are found the most per- 
fect physical types of the noble Rajput race, and 
the many loyal and chivalrous traits ascribed to 
them by Tod, their appreciative historian. 

Amid the present degree of civilization, and the 
splendid receptions now given by native Princes 
all over India to stranger visitors from every land, 
one finds it difficult even to conceive of the obsta- 
cles and dangers that beset the path of Bishop 
Heber, the priest and poet-traveller of 1820, when 
he attempted a tonr of the Rajput states. He 
says : " The journey was hardly less to be dreaded 
than one into the centre of Africa — the whole 
interior of India being overrun by bands of brig- 
ands, and these scarcely more dangerous to for- 
eigners than the inhabitants of villages and rural 
districts." . How different in our own day, when, 
despite all the wrongs and oppressions of which 
the people of Hindustan have been the recipients 
at the hands of European races, strangers meet 
everywhere only courtesy and kindness from her 
people of every grade. It is at Oudeypore, above 
every other city in India, that are to be found the 



" Sons of Ki7igsy 413 

high representatives of the chief Rajput tribes, 
and of purest blood, till it has passed into a 
proverb that "a courtier of the court of Oudey- 
pore is the model of bon-ton for all India.'' 

Neither Mogul nor English have in auy way 
been able to influence these princely Rajputs to 
amalgamate with other races ; and despite inva- 
sion and contact with foreigners they have pre- 
served intact their purity of blood and caste. 
And what grand, noble specimens of manhood 
they are — these calm, silent, dignified " Sons of 
Kings," every one of them, with their tall, well- 
developed forms, expressive features, and princely 
air. They wear the beard very long, divided into 
two pointed whiskers, which is the ne plus ultra of 
the barber's art in Oudeypore. The turbans of 
the Rajputs are always of fine material, and always 
tastefully folded, though not by any means of cor- 
responding size or form. Very many are small 
and tightly-fitting, with the edges turned up like a 
cap ; others are more voluminous ; and some quite 
fantastic as to form. Their usual attire consists 
of a tight-fitting tunic, full trousers, or a waist- 
cloth worn long and so arranged as to resemble 
the aforesaid garment, and a jewelled girdle decked 



414 Indian RaceB. 

out with a complete armament of swords, daggers, 
and dirks ; with the addition in times of active 
service, of the traditional rhinoceros-skin shield, 
circular, semi-transparent, and pendant from the 
shoulders by a cord of the same material, the 
shield itself fairly aglow with a super-abundance 
of golden knobs. The women are tall and well- 
formed, sprightly, graceful, and sometimes very 
pretty. Only the very highest class are kept in 
seclusion, the remainder going about ad libitum; 
and vails are never worn. Nevertheless, a pretty, 
graceful coyness is one of the attractions of the 
Rajput fair, leading her, when too closely observed, 
to draw the long, silken sarri, pendant always 
from hcr head, over her features, until the inquisi- 
tive gazer has passed. The costume of Rajput 
ladies is pretty and graceful, consisting of a long, 
full-plaited skirt, descending below the knee, a 
tight bodice of some bright color, and the long 
sarri or scarf of thin silk, fastened in a tasteful 
knot upon the top of the head, and suffered to 
float at will over the neck and shoulders. An 
abundance of gold and silver ornaments, as in 
every oriental costume, completes the attire. 

Among Rajput families of distinction, the house- 



The Household Bard, 417 

hold bard holds an important place. Not only the 
sovereign, courtiers, and chiefs, have each an 
especial bard and poet, but even private families 
of wealth and position have their own, each keep- 
ing the pedigree of his master's house, preserving 
intact the traditions that belong to the family, and, 
on grand occasions, reciting the ancestral catalogue 
with the deeds that have rendered each name illus- 
trious. The very person of the bard is held 
sacred ; and no undue familiarity, still less neglect 
or injury, is ever permitted toward him ; and 
among the desert tribes he is far more venerated 
than even the Brahmin priests. He deals largely 
in astrology also, professing to draw all his deduc- 
tions, public and private, from the stars ; and from 
their omens and decrees as promulgated by him, 
there is never a doubt, or thought of appeal. He 
is the bearer of all important messages in the 
arranging of treaties and negotiations of every 
sort, and when he dies, the whole clan mourn his 
departure as a national calamity, second only to 
that of their chief. 

When, in 1565, Pertab Singh was deposed by 
the Mogul emperor, Akbar, and after a gallant re- 
sistance was driven with his brave Rajputs from 



418 Indian Races, 

the domain of his ancestors, there remained to him 
only the territory comprised within tlie semi-circle 
of the Gurwa Mountains. But his brave spirit 
was unconquered, and tradition says, that halting 
before Chittore, the ancient city of the Ranas, lie 
vowed a terrible vengeance against the invaders 
of his native soil ; and that thenceforward, refus- 
ing all the honors offered by the Mogul emperor, 
as the price of submission to his authority, Pertab, 
to the very end of his life, waged implacable and 
uncompromising war against the whole Mogul 
race. His brave defence of the Dhobarri Pass is 
well known. With a handful of nobles who had 
remained faithful to him, and the help of the fierce 
Bheels he had enlisted as soldiers, he sustained the 
shock of the imperial forces; and subsequently, 
by dint of an unfaltering heroism, he recovered by 
degrees, the whole of Meywar, (which in spite of 
all odds, the Rajputs have retained), and at last, 
the powerful Jehanghir was able to conclude a 
treaty with them, only on their own terms. Tod, 
in his " Annals of Rajesthan," styles the powerful 
Jehanghir, "the Mogul emperor, a commentator, 
like Csesar, on the history of the Sesoudias ; " and 
quotes the language of Jehanghir, " the Supreme 



The Sesoudias. 419 

Head of the twenty-two Satrapies of India," as 
exulting with pride on the treaty concluded with 
the Rajput king, " he thanks Heaven for having 
reserved to him the success which neither his im- 
mortal ancestor, Baber, the founder of the Mogul 
dynasty, nor Humayun had been able to attain ; 
and which even his father, the illustrious Akbar, 
had but partially achieved." 

The sixteen Omras who surround the Rana at 
his Durbars are the representatives of the little 
band of heroes who, for an entire century, val- 
iantly maintained the independence of their flag, 
without once yielding the day, turning their backs 
on the foe, or being seduced by the brilliant offers 
of the emperors. It is said that the poorest Raj- 
put Sesoudia of the present day can trace back 
the genealogy of his tribe for a dozen centuries at 
least, and may dwell with pride on the purity of 
his lineage, unstained by any alliance wifh the 
Tartars. Before even the beginning of our era 
this "race of the sun" appear to have owned an 
immense territory, and to have reigned over 
wealthy cities, and luxuriated in gorgeous palaces 
and superb monuments while many European 
nations were yet in their infancy, and the very 



420 Indian Races, 

existence of our Western Continent had never been 
thought of, by even the wisest heads. 

Every Rajput noble has his own standard and 
coat of arms, and many have names corresponding 
with the devices emblazoned on their banners. 
These possess the genuine stamp of antiquity, 
showing that their heraldry could not have been 
imported from Europe as some writers have sup- 
posed. In the Mahabarata, and many others of 
their sacred books, the heroes are represented as 
carrying off the banners of their foes ; while in 
Hindu romances, the knights are nearly always 
distinguished by the devices on their shields. 

The Maharajah Ram Singh, of Jeypore, is the 
chief of the KacTiwas (Tortoises), one of the prin- 
cipal Rajput clans. They, too, trace their descent 
from the divine Rama of Aoudha, the ancestor of the 
Souriavanses, through his second son, Cush, one of 
whose 'descendants built the celebrated fortress of 
Rhotasin Behar, and took the name of Kachwa. In 
A. D. 295, Nal Pal, one of their kings, removed west- 
ward to Nishida, now Narwar, and their third capi- 
tal was Gwalior. In 967 Dhola Rae was driven 
from the country hj a usurper, and forced to seek 
refuge among the Mynas of Dhoundhar, by whom 




RUINS NEAR DELHI, 



The Kachwas. 423 

he was very kindly received ; and whom, by a long 
course of treachery, he dispossessed of their coun- 
try. At the time of the Mussulman invasion the 
Kachwa kings of Ambir were among the first to 
seek their alliance ; and in the reign of Akbar, 
Bhagwandas gave one of his daughters in mar- 
riage to Prince Selim, afterwards the Emperor 
Jehanghir. The name of this Rajah is conse- 
quently held in reproach, for having been the first 
to stain the pure, unmixed blood of a Rajput by a 
union with the abhorred Moslems ; and for this 
act, the clan of Kachwas are to this day regarded 
as inferior to all other Rajputs. 

The Mjaias, the ancient owners of Jeypore, 
were one of the great aboriginal races of India, 
who, like the Bheels, the Gounds, and Jats, peo- 
pled the broad lands since occupied by the Rajputs. 
The Mynas of Dhoundhar were divided into five 
great tribes, called Panchwara, and inhabited the 
whole region of the Kalikho Mountains from 
Ajmere to Delhi. Their chief towns were Ambir, 
Khogaum, and Mauch. This race was not entirely 
subjugated until about the thirteenth century ; 
and they had attained an advanced degree of civil- 
ization, but driven back to the mountains, they 



424 Indian Races, 

have gradually relapsed almost into barbarism, 
and their wild tribes now spread themselves nearly 
to the mountains of Central India. All the 
aboriginal races of Rajputana, the Mynas, as well 
as the Bheels, and Mhairs, live in villages called 
Pals^ which circumstance has given them the 
generic name of Palitas. The habits of the 
Mynas resemble those of the Bheels. They live 
by hunting and brigandage rather than agriculture ; 
and they always carry their bows and lattis (bam- 
bo'os, pointed with iron). They have dark, swarthy 
skins, long, silk}^ black hair, and their features are 
more refined and intelligent than those of the Bheels. 
Bheel is derived from the Sanscrit hhila, *' sep- 
arate," i. e., outcast, a name applied to one of the 
aboriginal races alluded to above, who have from 
remote ages been described as a distinct people. 
According to their own traditions, they sprang 
from the union of the god Mahadeo with a beauti- 
ful woman he met in a forest, and whose descend- 
ants becoming numerous settled the country of 
West Candeish, Malwar, Rajputana, the Aravalis, 
Vindhyas, and Salpura Mountains. They still 
people the whole of Bagur, a part of the chain of 
the Aravalis, and jiearly all the Vindhyas, 



The Bheels. 425 

Along the Vindhya range, from Jain to West 
Mandu, almost the entire population are Bheels, 
though many of the chiefs are descended from 
Rajput fathers and Bheel mothers, and are known 
as Chomijahs. One of the most noted of these 
was Nadir Singh, famous for his murderous ex- 
ploits. They worship Mahadeo and his consort, 
Devi, the goddess of small-pox. For other objects 
of worship they select the several elements, and 
special maladies ; and for the gigantic tree Mhowa, 
from which they obtain both oil and spirits, they 
have a supreme reverence. They rarely erect 
regular temples, but heap up a mass of stones and 
smear them with red ochre, then lay on a rudely- 
sculptured flagstone upon which to deposit offer- 
ings, and their sanctuary is complete. Equally 
simple is their toilette. A single twist of their 
long hair is wound around the temples to serve as 
a turban, while the remainder hangs neglected 
about the shoulders that are bare and bronzed. A 
single waist-cloth forms usually the entire costume 
for men, while the women have also their shoulders 
partially covered, and a succession of bangles and 
bracelets reaching, the former from knee to ankle, 
and the latter from wrist to elbow. Denounced 



426 Indian Races. 

for centuries as thieves and outlaws, the Bheels, 
in bitter sarcasm, style themselves " the thieves of 
Mahadeo," and declare perpetual enmity against 
the Hindus, who have banished them from their 
legal rights. Withdrawing into inaccessible dis- 
tricts, and sheltered in their fastnesses from the 
strong arm of the law, they live apart from the 
residue of mankind, pay tribute to none, make 
terrible reprisals on those who injure or offend 
them, and scatter terror among merchants and 
travellers who pass their way. Their " pals " or 
villages are always built on heights command- 
ing the roads ; each house is a fortress of itself, 
looking, as it stands perched on the very summit 
of some abrupt cliff, like a gigantic aerie, and 
every chief of a clan is the commander of a troop 
of brigands. When danger threatens, the clans 
make common cause — the women, children and 
cattle are sent to the ravines for safety, while the 
men either sally forth to meet their foes, or launch 
their arrows at them from an intrenchment of 
cactus and boxwood. Sentinels are always on the 
lookout for danger, and for " game ; " and not a 
movement along the road escapes their observa- 
tion. 



A Legend, 427 

Treated like wild beasts, hunted down, de- 
nounced and defamed by the Brahmins, whom 
they abhor and denounce in return, they seem in a 
great measure to have forgotten their ancient 
civilization, and have fallen into the state of 
degradation, in which they are found at the present 
day. In their legends and traditions, however, 
they have preserved many memorials of their days 
of renown, when their rule extended over fertile 
plains as well as rugged mountains. One of these 
legends seems to explain the origin of the hatred 
existing between the Bheels and Brahmins. The 
legend says: "A Brahmin one day chanced to 
meet in the jungle a natural son of Mahadeo, 
wandering about in search of food. As he was 
very black, and of giant strength, the Brahmin 
sneeringly called him, ' Niehadi^^ or Bheel, i. e.^ 
' outlaw,' and charged him with the murder of 
Nandi, the sacred ox of the god. This scion of 
divinity, indignant at the wanton insult, slew the 
offending Brahmin on the spot, and returning 
home boasted of the exploit to his people, who 
adopted thenceforward the name of ' Bheel ' in 
commemoration of his deed." The Brahmins 
choose to aver that the ox was verily slain, and 



428 Indian Races. 

the crime of all most odious in the eyes of a 
Hindu really committed by the son of the very 
god the Bheels worship ; while the proud Bheel 
scorns to disavow the base slander, but declines 
nevertheless to submit to the yoke of the impe- 
rious Brahmin ; and so the two are at perpetual 
variance. Despite their outlawry, the Bheels have 
noble traits. They are said to be very humane to 
their prisoners taken from other races, showing 
them the hospitality due to strangers and guests. 
They are likewise excellent husbands ; and wives 
exercise considerable influence in the domestic 
menage. The Bheels are noted also for their 
grateful remembrance oi favors received; and for 
the faithful observance of promises. The point of 
honor is carried so far that they have been known 
repeatedly to allow richly-freighted caravans to 
pass unmolested, solely because a safe conduct had 
been innocently promised by some of their own 
little children ; or their protection invoked by the 
travellers themselves. They have no prejudices of 
caste, nor any in regard to food, for their several 
tribes intermarry with each other, and frequently 
also with the Rajputs ; and they eat any food they 



The Bheels, 429 

find agreeable or convenient, irrespective of its 
source. 

The pure Bheels are said to number about two 
millions in India, besides many thousands of 
Bhilalas, a mixed race, the progeny of Rajputs 
and Bheels who have intermarried. The Bheels 
are of medium height, and more robust than the 
average Hindu, though less graceful in carriage. 
They are remarkably strong, athletic, and skilful 
in the use of their bows and arrows, using them 
even in tiger and panther hunting, and readily hit- 
ting their mark at twenty or twenty-five yards 
distance. The Bheel women, as a rule, are of a 
handsome type, fairer than the men, more elegantly 
formed, and extremely dignified and stately. 

The Bheels joined in the Indian mutiny of 1857 
and 1858 ; and Lieutenant Henry, Superintendent 
of Police, was killed in endeavoring to dislodge 
them from a strong position in Candeish. In 
another engagement, fought January 20, 1858, 
near the frontier of the Nizam's territory, where 
the Bheels were strongly entrenched, the English 
lost fifty European soldiers and officers. At other 
points, however, when friendship and protection 
had been shown them by the English, they evinced 



430 Indian Races, 

their appreciation of these favors bj protecting their 
allies when menaced by mutinous seapoys ; and 
some of the Bheels who entered the British army 
rendered faithful and effective service. The 
British Government has, in return, endeavored 
to ]p^t a stop to the Rajput raids that formerly 
proved so destructive to the crops and villages of 
the Bheels. The attacks of the Rajputs were nearly 
always made when the mountaineers were away on 
some distant expedition, from which they would re- 
turn to find only a smouldering heap of ruins in lieu 
of their growing crops and picturesque '' pals." 
Both of these turbulent races, the Bheels and the 
Rajputs, though at first somewhat restive of con- 
trol, from whatever source, are gradually, under 
the influence of wise laws and the stringency of 
military discipline, toning down from their preda- 
tory habits into more peaceful and law-abiding 
communities. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE MOGUL EMPIEE — FEOM BABEE TO AKBAE. 

THE reign of Baber, the first Tartan Emperor 
who attempted to reside among his Indian 
subjects, was by no means a welcome one to the 
Rajputs and chiefs of his new domain. Very 
many of them were in open rebellion, and boldly 
defied him ; and nearly all had availed themselves 
of the recent disturbed state of the country to 
act independently of any ''Paramount Power," 
and were not disposed to resign to the new-made 
emperor any of their recently acquired preroga- 
tives. But Baber's early experiences had taught 
him how to conquer rebellious princes; and he 
had reached the throne of Delhi through too many 
victories to have any fear of future defeat. His 
father, who had been Sultan of Khokan, dying 

431 



432 The Mogul Empire. 

when Baber was a lad of twelve, his uncle, the 
Saltan of Samercand, had seized the patrimony of 
the youthful sovereign ; but Baber, with a spirit 
and bravery beyond his years, asserted his rights, 
and maintained them against his far more experi- 
enced relative for several years. Becoming in- 
volved in disputes with several of his neighbors, 
at the same time, they united against him, and 
Baber was compelled to seek safety in flight. 
With only three hundred followers, he took refuge 
in Khorasan, and was for several years involved in 
dissensions concerning his paternal domain. After 
enlisting in his serviiae a large company of Moguls 
in addition to his Afghan troops, Baber, in 1519, 
crossed the Indus, and conquered several towns 
in the Punjaub ; but no further attempt was made 
on India for nearly five years. In 1524 he ad- 
vanced to Lahore, which he captured; but after- 
wards formed an alliance with its Rajah, for the 
subjugation of other provinces. His next advance 
was to Paniput, the '^ battle-field of India," fifty 
miles from Delhi, where he fought the great battle 
that gave him an empire, and left Ibrahim Lodi, 
the last of the Afghan monarchs of India, dead on 
the battle-field. Baber's lieutenants occupied 



Bahers Success, 435 

Delhi and Agra, while his son, Humayun, routed 
another Afghan arm3% and Baber marched south- 
ward and gained a decisive victory over Rana 
Sanka, the most powerful of the Hindu princes. 
From this time Baber busied himself in quelling 
insurrections, and reducing his refractory Rajahs 
and governors to obedience. The Afghan chiefs 
and Hindu troops fought with great valor, and 
disputed every battle with the energy of despera- 
tion. Several times Baber, who was always in 
the thickest of the fight, came near falling into 
the hands of the enemy ; but his usual good fort- 
une never forsook him ; and it was without even a 
wound that, at the end of four years' hard con- 
flicts, Baber set himself to the reconstruction of 
his extensive dominions, with nearly every province 
once more under the dominion of Delhi. He had 
roads built and repaired, with way-stations for the 
accommodation of travellers ; caused a new survey 
of lands, with reference to equable taxation, 
planted gardens and fruit trees, and established a 
line of post-houses from Agra to Cabul. All these 
improvements, in addition to the founding of an 
empire that lasted nearly three centuries, was the 
work of that brief reign of only five years, four 



436 The Mogul Empire. 

of which were spent in warfare. But now that 
all his projects seemed fulfilled, and all the plans 
he had formed brought to a happy conclusion, 
Baber saw that he was not to live to enjoy his suc- 
cesses. A life of many vicissitudes, with great 
physical fatigues and the hardships of camp life, 
had made inroads upon his constitution not to be 
shaken off; and conscious that his end was ap- 
proaching, he made judicious arrangements for the 
future government of the country, which he be- 
queathed to his son Humayun, and expired in 
December, 1580, in the forty-eighth year of his 
age, having reigned over India years five only. 
To great political and military abilities, Baber 
joined literary tastes and accomplishments of no 
mean order. He wrote a history of his own life 
in the Mogul language, which has been translated 
into English ; and so far as his busy life of warfare 
permitted, he encouraged men of letters about his 
court. Humayun inherited his father's talents 
and virtues ; and few monarchs have ascended a 
throne with more brilliant prospects of success. 
The empire seemed firmly established ; the turbu- 
lent nobles were once more at peace with each 
other and the supreme government ; the revenues 




THE BAZAAR OF KHOJA SYUD, AJMERE. 



Humayun, 439 

were in a flourishing condition ; and the young 
king himself had so well profited by his father's 
training and example, both as general and states- 
man, that he seemed admirably adapted to fill with 
credit to himself, and to the happiness of his peo- 
ple, the exalted position to which he was called. 
But his mild, peace-loving character was not suffi- 
ciently in unison with the warlike age ; and his 
literary and social tastes were toa far in advance 
of his restless, turbulent nobles, who could adapt 
themselves only to an iron rule. It shortly be- 
came necessary for him to undertake an expedition 
into Guzerat, and another into his Afghan terri- 
tories ; and though in both he was victorious, he 
came near falling a victim to treachery. Then his 
two brothers revolted, and making common cause 
with several restless chiefs, they incited a formid- 
able rebellion against him. After several unsuccess- 
ful attempts to restore order, Humayun took refuge 
at the court of Persia, where he was cordially wel- 
comed, and assistance promised him against his 
enemies. Sixteen years however elapsed before 
he re-entered Delhi in triumph ; and then he lived 
only a brief period to enjoy the restoration of his 
kingdom. Walking on a terrace of his palace, his 



440 The 3Iogul Empire, 

foot slipped and he fell to the ground, so severely 
injured that his death followed in a few days. 
Akbar, his son and successor, was then only thir- 
teen years of age, and as usual among those turbu- 
lent chieftains on the death of a sovereign, 
insurrections and revolts broke out in various 
parts of the empire. The good order restored by 
Baber had failed utterly under the less successful 
administration of Humayun ; and especially dur- 
ing his long absence from the country, many states 
threw off their allegiance entirely, and now re- 
fused to submit to the sway of the boy-king, 
whom they deemed wholly unequal to the enforce- 
ment of his claims. But the youth and inexperi- 
ence of Akbar found adequate compensation in 
the ripe years and mature wisdom of his dis- 
tinguished vizier, Behram Khan, the general and 
prime minister of his late father ; while the bud- 
ding genius of Akbar himself, that rendered him 
afterwards so illustrious, soon began to be recog- 
nized. 

The ceremonial of coronation was scarcely over 
when Behram, accompanied by the youthful sover- 
eign, set forth with the utmost energy and deter- 
mination to bring the refractory Rajahs to their 



Ahhar. 441 

duty. Hemu a powerful Hindu prince, who had 
assumed the title of emperor on the demise of 
Humayun, Avas the first to be reckoned with. 
Hemu, with a powerful army of the bitterest foes 
of Mohammedan rule, was strongly entrenched at 
Paniput, and they fought with the desperate en- 
ergy of religious fanaticism ; but victory declared 
in favor of Akbar ; and Hemu, wounded and a 
prisoner, was brought to the royal tent, where 
Behram requested the emperor to strike the first 
blow at the usurper as a signal for his death. 
But the brave young monarch refused to strike a 
wounded man and a prisoner, and this so enraged 
the vizier, that he struck off the head of the cap- 
tive with his own hand without waiting for the 
formality of a regular execution. This victory 
was followed by others in rapid succession, till 
Delhi, Agra, the Punjaub, Guzerat, and Bengal 
were all brought back to their fealty. The strong- 
fort, Chittore, in Meywar, was also besieged and 
taken after a gallant defence. Its rich jewels and 
royal treasures too, were carried off by the captors ; 
but Oudey Singh, its brave defender and most 
precious treasure was never taken, and the coun- 
try continued to hold out against Akbar during his 



442 The Mogul Empire, 

entire reign. Cliittore is a fortified town, built on 
the summit of an isolated peak, about three miles 
from the Pathar Mountains. It was the ancient 
capital of Meywar, built by Chitrung Mori, the 
Puar king ; and for several centuries it was the 
only important town that was able to hold out 
against the encroachments of Moslem power. The 
plateau on which it is built lies southwest and 
northeast, and is about three miles long, at a vary- 
ing height of from two hundred and fifty to four 
hundred feet above the plain. It is a naturally 
strong position, surmounted by admirable works, 
the sides of the mountain being . perpendicular, 
and a line of embattled ramparts, supported by 
large round towers, running along the edge of the. 
precipice, render it almost invulnerable. Nor 
could it be reduced by famine, being well supplied 
with water from numerous reservoirs, and contain- 
ing also immense store-houses and granaries. Yet, 
despite all these advantages, Chittore has been 
oftener reduced by siege than almost any other 
town in India. Its weak point is a little plateau 
on the south side of the mountain, and this has 
in every instance been the successful point of re- 
duction. Tradition says that this plateau was 



CMUore, 443 

erected by Sultan Ala-u-din, as the place from 
which to make his assault in 1303, and that the 
garrison succumbed to his forces after resisting a 
siege of twelve years. It was also from this point 
that the Maharajah Scindia bombarded the town, 
in 1792. Dense forests, full of ferocious beasts of 
prey, surround the base of the mountain, except 
the small portion occupied by the town of Toulaiti, 
about half-way up the western side. There is only 
one entrance to Chittore, which is defended by 
seven gates placed at intervals up the ascent. 
Between the third and fourth is built a small 
cenotaph of white marble, to mark the spot where 
the two heroes, Jeimul and Puttore^ fell during the 
siege of the town by Akbar ; and near by is the 
tomb of Ragonde, another martyr of the Rajput 
cause, who is now worshipped as a demi-god. 
Indeed, the whole history of Chittore, as recorded 
by its bards, and handed down by tradition, is one 
of touching devotion and almost unparalleled 
heroism on the part of the Rajputs — even the 
gentler sex vicing with their husbands and fathers 
in love and zeal for the honor of their devoted 
city. More than once the entire garrison has per- 
ished to a man, kings and princes have calmly laid 



444 The Mogul Empire, 

down their lives for their country, and gentle 
women, with their tender babes, have faced suffer- 
ing and death by violence and by the still more 
cruel "sacrifice of Johur," without a murmuring 
word. 

Among the numerous monuments of this once 
famous city, perhaps the most noted is the Kherut 
Khoumb, or " Tower of the Victory of Kho- 
umbhou," erected by the Rana of that name to 
commemorate the victory gained over the allied 
armies of the Sultans of Mai war and Guzerat. 
The Kherut is a square tower of singular beauty, 
more than a hundred feet high, built in nine 
stories, and once profusely adorned with superb 
balconies, sculptures, mouldings, and cornices, 
some of which yet remain ; but man}^ have been 
destroyed by the vandalism of Moslem invaders. 
The ninth story, which serves the purpose of lan- 
tern tower, is surmounted by a modern dome, the 
ancient one having been destroyed by lightning. 
Here were also laid up the slabs of white marble 
containing the records of the genealogy and chief 
acts of all the Ranas. Of these, but one slab re- 
main^ which records a fulsome tribute to the 
builder of the tower, and the date of its erection, 



Pudmanee's Sacrifice. 445 

1307. According to the accounts of tlie time, the 
Duilcling of this superb tower cost ninety lacs of 
rupees, or 14,500,000; and that at a period when 
the proportionate value of money was so much 
greater than in our own day. 

Among other remarkable monuments, are the 
palace of the Puar king, Chitrung Mori, the 
founder of Chittore, which is the oldest edifice in 
the fortress ; the palace of the patriotic Bhimsi, 
and his beautiful queen, Pudmanee ; and near the 
sacred fountain of Craee Moukli or the " Cow's 
Mouth," is an aperture in the rock that leads into 
the immense subterranean galleries, called by the 
Hindus, Rani-Bindar^ " Queens' Chamber." It 
was in this cavern that the peerless queen, Pud- 
manee, and all the other women of Chittore, 
amounting to several thousand in number, sacri- 
ficed their lives rather than to fall into the hands 
of the Moslem invaders of their country, at the 
sacking of Chittore by Ala-u-din in 1290. After 
the most gallant but unsuccessful defence, the 
brave Rajputs filled the subterranean apartments 
of the Rani-Bindar with inflammable materials, 
and on these were heaped all the women and chil- 
dren, the jewels, diamonds and treasure, all that 



446 The Mogul Empire, 

their Moslem foes would care to possess, and tlie 
torch being applied, all perished together. This is 
the " Sacrifice of Johur " — never resorted to but 
in such desperate cases, to save women of rank 
from being dishonored. 

When their most precious possessions had been 
thus provided for, the gates of the fortress were 
thrown open, and its last de'fenders, with the Rana 
at their head, rushing with drawn swords upon 
Ala's army, perished to a man, though not without 
inflicting a terrible vengeance on the Moslems, 
whom they hacked and butchered without mercy, 
probably ten for one. On entering Chittore, the 
Sultan found only a silent and deserted town, over 
which hung a cloud of foetid smoke, rising out of 
the vaults where all that he had coveted lay in 
smouldering ashes. His avowed object in laying 
siege to Chittore, both in 1275, and again in 1290, 
had been to possess himself of the beautiful queen 
Pudmanee, whose wondrous graces of person and 
character are still handed down by tradition. 
Twice the Moslem conqueror had been foiled by 
this lady fair : first, by a well executed ruse on her 
part, and this time by her self-immolation ; and 
his rage vented itself in the demolition of all the 



Chittore. 447 

buildings within the fortress, save only the palace 
where the beautiful queen had perished. 

When this grand, invincible people had again 
rallied from theia* disaster, and Chittore phoenix- 
like had risen from the ashes of desolation to a 
higher prosperity under the glorious reign of 
Khoumbhou, the builder of the tower that bears 
his name, and of numerous other stately architect- 
ural wonders, Chittore was again besieged in 1537, 
by Sultan Bahadour Bajazet, king of Guzerat. 
This time, the fortress of the devoted city was un- 
dermined, taken and again sacked ; but not until 
the brave garrison had fallen almost to a man, and 
their wives and daughters, more than a thousand 
in number, led by the queen Kurriaveti, had im- 
molated themselves, by taking their position on a 
rock that had been undermined, when firing the 
train, they all perished in an instant. 

Twenty years later, in 1557, having once more 
risen from its ruins, Chittore was again besieged, 
this time by Akbar. He was at "first repulsed 
with heavy loss by Oudey Singh and his brave 
Rajputs ; but the little garrison was finally over- 
powered by numbers, fighting as they were against 
the whole force of the Tartan emperor. The 



448 The Mogul Empire. 

flower of the Mey war chivalry were cut to pieces ; 
the widow of one of the Omras, who, taking her 
dead husband's place, went out to battle beside her 
son, a youth of sixteen, and her young daughter- 
in-law, fell fighting bravely while both lay dead 
before her : two heads of tribes, Jeimul and Put- 
tore, defended the sacred city with a bravery re- 
membered even to this day by Moslems as well as 
Rajputs ; and at last Jeimar, wdien he had been 
mortally wounded by the hand of Akbar him- 
self, gave the signal for the Johur, and nine 
queens, five princesses, and more than a thousand 
other women, together ascended the funeral pyre, 
while their last defenders, satisfied that their honor 
was preserved, rushed to meet death in the battle- 
field. When the city fell into Akbar's hands, he 
caused the immolation of every living thing found 
within its borders, not sparing even its beautiful 
monuments from desecration and defacement. But 
the race that had proved such invincible opposers 
of Moslem rule could not be extinguished. Be- 
sides those scattered over the mountain villages, 
the illustrious Rana Oudey Singh had escaped 
with a band of brave adherents ; and he shortly 



Chittore Deserted, 449 

after laid the foundation of Oudeypore, " City of 
the Rising Sun," to commemorate his name. 

Cliittore, the invincible, was deserted, and this 
royal abode that for a thousand years had towered 
above all the surrounding region, has become the 
haunt of wild beasts, with its sacred places dese- 
crated or in ruins. Formerly it was called the 
" Holy Town," but now, though still considered a 
sacred place of the former times, " it is given over 
to evil spirits, and the Eanas are solemnly forbid- 
den to enter its precincts." Not one of them has 
set foot on the rock since Oudey Singh left its hor- 
rors on that fatal day ; and " those who have at- 
tempted to enter the desecrated town have felt 
themselves repelled by an unseen hand." 

The great conqueror returned from the reduc- 
tion of Chittore with more than ordinary elation, 
though nearly all his military expeditions were 
crowned with success. But the cruel and jealous 
spirit of his vizier, Behram, grew more and more 
unbearable, till Akbar found it necessary to dis- 
miss him, and, as the least objectionable method 
of doing so, sent him on a pilgrimage to Mecca ; 
and on the road thither he was assassinated by one 



450 The Mogul Empire, 

of the many enemies he had made by his imperious 
and .unjust despotism as vizier. 

A war with the Afghans of the North-eastern 
Provinces followed Akbar's other aggressive move- 
ments ; and then one with Cashmere, both of 
which were soon '' compelled to accept the terms 
offered them, namely, complete subjection to 
Akbar's authorit3\" His power was now firmly 
established throughout the whole of Central India; 
and Cashmere seems from this time to have been 
the summer residence of the emperors of Delhi, so 
long as this monarchy lasted. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE MOGUL EMPIKE — FEOM AKBAR TO SHAH 

JEHAN. 

IN 1596, the Deccan became the scene of Akbar's 
military exploits. Several of his generals 
were first dispatched to different fields in that 
country; and after about two years, he joined 
them at the scene of operations before Ahmed- 
negar. 

This city was founded by Ahmed Nizam Shah, 
in 1493. It was a part of the Tartan empire from 
1634 to 1707, when it was captured by the Mah- 
rattas. In 1797 it was taken by Scindia, and six 
years later was wrested from him by General 
Wellesley. Soon afterwards, it was restored to 
the Peishwa, and did not revert to the English 
until l817o Its fortress is considered one of the 

451 



452 The Mogul Empire, 

strongest in India, being surrounded by an impen- 
etrable hedge of prickly-pear, in addition to its 
stone walls of thirty feet high. Akbar's purpose was 
• not to destroy the city, but to compel the reigning 
princes to submit to his authority ; and this end he 
ftdly accomplished before quitting the Deccan, 
which he left in the hands of his minister, Abul Fazl, 
whilst he proceeded with all speed to Agra. " This 
was rendered necessary by the rebellious conduct 
of his oldest son, Selim, who, instigated by bad 
advisers, and under the influence of opium and 
wine, had seized upon Allahabad and declared him- 
self king of Oudh and Behar. This rupture was, 
however, healed shortly afterward ; Selim was de- 
clared heir to the throne, admitted at court, and 
permitted to wear royal ornaments." * 

Akbar was now on the verge of sixty, and the 
exposures and hardships of his military life were 
beginning to affect his health and bring on pre- 
mature infirmities. For several years he continued 
to have frequent and severe attacks of illness, one 
of which terminated his life, in the autumn of 
1605, when he had just completed the sixty-third 
year of his age, and had entered the fiftieth of his 

* Malcolm's " Indian Mutiny." 




THE TEMPLE OF MAHADEVA, KAJRAHA. 



454 The Mogul Empire. 

reign. Nearly his whole life had been passed in 
warfare ; yet he found time for the exercise of the 
arts of peace, and it was often said of him that 
" he deemed no department of his government, 
and no details of his vast and splendid establish- 
ment too insignificant to deserve its special share 
of regular attention." While possessed of great 
military genius, he was also a lover of science and 
literature, encouraged learning, instituted schools, 
promoted commerce, improved the roads, reformed 
the revenue laws, diminished the taxes of his peo- 
ple, and gave the fullest liberty of conscience, 
allowing no man to be persecuted for his religious 
creed or practice. His eldest son, Selim, was with 
him during his last days, and received from his 
dying hands the royal s.cymeter. No opposition 
was made to the succession of Selim, who, under 
the title of Jehanghir or " Conqueror of the 
World," ascended the throne rendered immortal 
by Akbar's brilliant reign. The first trouble of 
the new monarch was caused by the rebellion of 
his own son, Khosru, who proceeded with a body 
of troops he had levied to seize on the city of 
Lahore ; but he was defeated in the very first en- 
gagement with his father ; was taken back to the 




///LDlUriAND 

SAMBHOO SING. rHE MAIIARANA OF MEYWAR. 



Lahore in its Grlory, 457 

ijapital loaded with chains, and kept close pris- 
oner for a year. Lahore was in its glory then, as 
seen by Lalla Rookh, when " mausoleum and shrines, 
magnificent and numberless, affected her heart and 
imagination, and where death appeared to share 
equal honors with heaven." Now many of the old 
monuments have disappeared, and others have 
been changed, as for example, the magnificent 
tomb of a cousin of Akbar has been converted 
into a very commodious residence fpr the lieuten- 
ant-governor, and other mausoleums were used as 
dwellings for Seikh officers before the English 
came into possession. The flat roofs and carved 
lattices give to Lahore of the present day an 
aspect rather of Cairo than India ; and there is, all 
over the city, with all its gayety and splendor, a 
quaint admixture of Tartar dwellings and soft 
oriental scenery, and of many nations, with cos- 
tumes and Unguals innumerable. This city is sup- 
posed to have been founded sometime during the 
fourth or fifth century of our era, but it was not 
until the reign of Akbar that it attained any 
supremacy. Jehanghir was fond of it as a resi- 
dence, and fixed his court here in 1622, a court 
graced by the peerless Nour Mahal, " Light of the 



458 The Mogul Empire. 

Harem," whom Jehanghir had wedded in 1611. 
She was the widow of a late governor of Bengal, 
and had won the emperor's regards by her great 
beauty and accomplishments. She is said to have 
exerted an extraordinary influence over this proud 
potentate ; but she was less a favorite with his 
sons. Especially was she disliked, and her undue 
influence suspected as being opposed to his inter- 
ests, by the third son, Korrun, afterwards Shah 
Jehan, the successor of Jehanghir. So restive 
did the prince become under her influence and 
plottings, that at length he left the court in indig- 
nation, and raised the standard of revolt by laying 
siege to Agra. In this daring attempt he was de- 
feated with heavy loss, but he refused the proffered 
reconciliation of his father and continued to absent 
himself from court, awaiting opportunity for a new 
outbreak. About this time a difficulty with 
Mohabet Khan, the governor of the Punjaub, 
occurred, of which, also Nour Mahal was the chief 
cause, and which came very near proving fatal to 
the emperor. Mohabet so far succeeded as to get 
possession of the person of Jehanghir. He was, 
however, released by a well-directed ruse of Nour 
Mahal ; and a reconciliation was then effected be- 



Death of JeTianghir, 459 

tween the emperor and the governor, who was 
placed at the head of an army, and dispatched to 
the South against Shah Jehan, who still continued 
in open revolt. But Mohabet, instead of attack- 
ing the young prince, united with him against their 
common foe, Nour Mahal. 

While affairs were in this posture, 1627, the 
emperor, whose health had for some time been in 
a precarious condition, set out for Cashmere, in- 
tending to spend a month or two in resting and 
recruiting among the mountains. But the change 
proving unfavorable, his physicians directed an 
immediate return to a warmer climate. As a last 
hope he was conveyed toward Lahore, but expired 
suddenly on the way to that city, in the sixtieth 
year of his age, and the twenty-second of his 
reign. It was during the reign of this monarch, 
in 1615, that the English Embassy, under the guid- 
ance of Sir Thomas Roe, visited Ajniere, the object 
being to form a treaty of amity with the " Great 
Mogul," as the emperor was then called. Sir 
Thomas spent some three years in the country, 
and wrote a most vivid description of the court of 
Delhi, and the state of the country at that period. 
This work contains frequent allusions to the 



460 The Mogul Empire* 

emperor Jehangliir, and his luxurious mode of 
living, as well as many incidents of his private 
life and character. The great wealth of this 
monarch may be judged from several circumstances 
mentioned by Sir Thomas Roe, among others, the 
gifts presented by him to the bride of one of his 
sons, namely : " A pearl necklace valued at 
1300,000, a ruby worth $125,000, and a yearly 
maintenance of 1150,000." 

As soon as tidings of the emperor's death 
reached Shah Jehan, he repaired by forced marches 
to Agra, taking Mohabet with him, and there 
caused himself to be proclaimed. There was an 
attempt at resistance made by Nour Mahal, with 
the hope of securing the sceptre for her protege. 
Shah Riah, Jehanghir's second son, but without 
effect. At the first encounter, Nour Mahal's forces 
were defeated and her favorite slain, and she soon 
after retired to private life ; while Shah Jehan was 
left in quiet possession of his inheritance, an 
empire and a throne, with the beautiful Agra for 
his capital, A. D. 1627. 

Agra was only an insignificant Jat town when 
the emperor Secunder took possession of it in 
1488 ; and it was more than a third of a century 



Agra and the Taj, 461 

later, when Sliere Shah, who had been the rival of 
Humayun, and succeeded in driving him into 
exile, built the citadel around the palace. The 
splendor of Agra dates back no farther than the 
reign of Akbar, who, in 1556, made it his capital, 
under the name of Akbarabad, and enriched it 
with many monuments. By him the old Pathan 
fortress was razed to the ground, and replaced 
from the very foundations by a vast citadel, with 
marble palaces arid mosques ; while his successors, 
Jehanghir and Shah Jehan, endowed Agra with 
the Etmaddowlah and the wonderful Taj. But 
when the beloved wife, the empress Mumtazi 
Mahal^ for whose mausoleum the Taj was erected, 
had been laid away among its splendors, the sor- 
rowing emperor forsook the royal abode her pres- 
ence no longer graced, and took up his residence 
at Delhi, which has since been the sole capital of 
India, as it had long been one of the imperial 
residences. In 1761, Agra was sacked by the 
savage Jats of Souraj Mull ; about fifteen years 
later the Mahrattas carried off what the Jats had 
spared; and in 1803 the city was taken from 
Scindia b}^ General Lake, and has since remained 
under the control of the British Government. 



462 The Mogul Empire. 

During the Seapoy rebellion of 1857, most of 
the European houses were destroyed ; but the 
English and other foreign residents took refuge in 
the fort, and maintained a gallant defence until 
relieved by Colonel Greathed. Its population, 
which had greatly diminished under its various 
reverses, has rapidly increased of late years, and 
now numbers about two hundred and fifty thous- 
and. 

Agra is held in high veneration by the Hindus, 
as the city of the incarnation of Vishnu, under the 
name of Parasu Rama. Agra, now the capital of 
the northwest provinces, is noted throughout 
India for its superb monuments. The city is sit- 
uated on the right bank of the Jumna, and is con- 
nected by various railways with Bengal, the Pun- 
jaub and the Deccan, and holds commercial 
intercourse also with Rajputana and the Doab. 

It is a bright, clean, cheerful city, its dwellings 
comparativel}^ new, though built in the maiu from 
debris of former buildings from the times of 
Akbar, on to the conquest of the city by the English. 
In the southwest section, almost a mile from the 
city proper, are the English cantonments, contain- 
ing besides the barracks, bazaars and churches for 



Buildmgs of Agra. 463 

the troops, many fine mansions surrounded by 
gardens and green lawns. The great fortress of 
Akbar is in the southern section. It is built 
mainly of red sandstone, and looks imposing, but 
is by no means formidable, and could not stand 
against a sharp cannonade, as was proved by 
General Lake's siege in 1803. 

The Jummah Musjid or Cathedral Mosque of 
Agra, is a superb structure of the time of Akbar, 
and built of red sandstone and white marble, 
standing on a marble terrace, and the whole sur- 
mounted by three Mogul domes of great height. 

The Dewani Am or " Palace of Justice," was 
once a grand palace built on the plan of the 
Dewan Khas of Ambir ; but it is now the arsenal 
of the citadel, and the " Court " is filled with can- 
non and shot. Among the curiosities collected 
there by the English, are the throne of Akbar, and 
the celebrated gates of Somnath. The throne of 
Akbar is a long seat of marble inlaid with pre- 
cious stones, and surmounted by a graceful canopy 
of white marble. " The gates of Somnath " are 
two heavy doors of finely-carved wood, four yards 
high. In the beginning of the Christian era, they 
guarded the entrance to the temple of Krishna at 



464 The Mogul Empire^ 

Somnath in Guzerat ; but in the tenth century, 
Sultan Mahmoud, the fierce iconoclast, after de- 
stroying all the idols of Somnath, and pillaging 
the town, carried off these gates to his capital at 
Ghazni. The Brahmins offered, immense bribes 
for the redemption of the image of Krishna, but 
the Sultan destroyed it with his own hands, and in 
doing so, found within it, jewels of immense value. 
So it is probable the pious Brahmins had other 
motives besides a holy veneration for the image of 
their god in wishing to rescue it from the hands 
of the Moslems. After the conquest of Afghan- 
istan, when Ghuzni fell into the hands of the 
English, Lord EUenborough removed these gates 
to Agra, and made them the subject of a grand 
proclamation. Behind the arsenal is the imperial 
palace, in a perfect state of preservation, consist- 
ing of numerous pavilions, with gilded domes, con- 
nected by terraces, galleries and castellated walls, 
all built of the pure white marble of Rajputana ; 
and the courts are still planted with flowers, the 
plats intersected by numerous small canals. The 
interior of the spacious apartments is adorned with 
exquisite mosaics, and the windows are half-closed 
by curtains of marble, so finely carved as to repre- 



A Marvellous Stone, 467 

sent lace. The emperor's bath-room has panels of 
lapis-lazuU inlaid with gold, silver mirrors and 
fountains, and all the appointments that the most 
sensuous taste could contrive. 

On the terrace fronting the Dewan Khas, is a 
large slab of black marble, where Akbar the Great 
used to sit to administer justice to his people. 
The slab is broken in half, and in the centre are 
two red spots. Tradition says that when Agra 
was taken by the Jats, in 1761, Souraj Mull seated 
himself on this slab, which immediately gaped 
open and blood was seen to issue from the apper- 
ture ; and years afterward, when Lord Ellenbor- 
ough made the same attempt, the stone broke 
quite in two. Near the imperial seat is a smaller 
slab of white marble, designed for the court buf- 
foon, who used to mimic every action of the 
emperor. 

The Taj was built by the emperor Shah Jehan, 
as a mausoleum for the empress Mumtazi or Mum- 
taj Mahal, his favorite wife, who died in giving 
birth, to her eighth child, the princess Jehanara. 
In the great cemetery around the mausoleum of 
Nizam-u-din, on the road to Delhi, not far from 



468 The Mogul Empire, 

the Kootub, is the tomb of this princess, the Begum 
Jehanara, on which is inscribed the epitaph : 

" Let no rich canopy cover my grave, 

This grass is the best covering for the poor in Spirit, 

The humble, transitory Jehanara, the disciple of the holy men 

of Cheist, 
The daughter of the Emperor Shall Jehan." 

But despite this humble prayer, the dust of this 
royal lady reposes in a regal sarcophagus, sur- 
rounded by a screen of marble. 

The Empress Mumtaj Mahal, famous alike for 
her beauty and her talents, inspired in her hus- 
band such supreme love and admiration that he 
resolved, after her death, to raise to her memory 
the most beautiful monument that had ever been 
built within the memory of man. After long con- 
sultation with all the architects of the countries 
around, the plan of Isa Mohammed was adopted, 
and the building was begun in the j^ear 1630. Its 
construction occupied twenty thousand men for 
twenty-two years; and nearly every part of the 
empire was levied on for the various materials 
used. Rajputana furnished the marble and pink 
sandstone, one hundred and forty thousand cart 
loads in all ; the jaspers came from the Punjaub, 
cornelians from Broach, turquoises from Thibet 



The Taj, 469 

agates from Yeman, coral from Arabia, Onyx from 
Persia, lapis-lazuU from Ceylon, garnets from 
Bundelcund, diamonds from Punnah, chalcedonies 
from Arabia, rock-crystals from Malwar, sapphires 
from Columbo, and conglomerates from Jesulmore, 
Gwalior, and Sikri. Outside these gratuitous dona- 
tions, and the forced labor of workmen, the cost 
of the Taj was estimated at three millions of dol- 
lars. Almost every visitor to the Taj essays a 
description of what he in the very outset admits 
to be indescribable. Yet as there are thousands of 
readers who are not travellers, and who cannot 
therefore see the Taj for themselves, the following 
statistics are given as a means of judging of the 
size and proportions of this most wonderful monu- 
ment. 

The Taj, which is built near the banks of the 
Jumna, about a mile east of the fort, stands on a 
terrace of pink sandstone nine hundred and sixty 
feet long, and three hundred and eighty feet wide, 
one end being laved by the Jumna, and the other 
rising a few feet above the level of the garden. 
In the centre of this terrace stands a superb plat- 
form of white marble which is fifteen feet high, 
and two hundred and eighty-five feet on each side. 



470 The Mogul Empire, 

This forms a pedestal for the mausoleum itself, an 
irregular octagon, its longest sides measuring one 
hundred and twenty feet. It has a terraced roof, 
with a pavilion at each corner, and a magnificent 
dome in the centre, its golden crescent rising two 
hundred and seventy feet above the level of the 
river. Each facade is pierced with a high Sara- 
cenic gate, flanked on the outer side by two rows 
of niches ; and every line and proportion has been 
calculated with such consummate art, that not the 
slightest defect can be detected. One lady, while 
gazing on this wonderful structure, said to her 
husband : " I cannot criticise, but I can feel in 
such a presence as this ; and I know I would will- 
ingly die to-morrow to have such a tomb as this 
Taj." Others have said, or written : " The Taj 
was built by Titans and finished by goldsmiths." 
" The inspiration was from heaven, and the execu- 
tion wortlw of the conception." " A poem in 
marble I " " The sigh of a broken heart ! " " Po- 
etic marble arrayed in eternal glory ! " " Too pure 
to be the work of human hands ! " The entire 
edifice, from base to summit, is built of pure white 
marble, inlaid in mosaics, forming inscriptions, 
arabesques, and devices, all arranged with ex- 



The Taj. 471 

quisite taste, and perfect conception of tints and 
shades ; every particle of inlaying done with the 
patient care and unwearying assiduity of a Chinese 
artist. The beauty of the interior surpasses, if 
possible, the outside ; ceiKng, walls, and tomb- 
stones being one mass of mosaics, representing 
birds, flowers, and fruits. The tombs of the 
empress and Shah Jehan are in the centre of the 
hall enclosed by a marble screen of lace-work, 
through which the subdued light is reflected in 
mellow tints, and a tender, musical echo, as from 
fairy-land, falls softly on the ear. This echo is 
caused by the dome being completely closed by 
the ceiling of the hall, thus forming a gigantic 
whispering gallery. Among other decorations of 
the interior, is the entire letter-press of the Koran 
from beginning to end in exquisite mosaics of 
costly gems. 

The left bank of the Jumna is connected with 
the town by a viaduct and railway, quite a little 
village having sprung up on that side of the river. 
Near by is the famous Etmaddowlah^ the mauso- 
leum erected in 1610, by the emperor Jehanghir, 
over the tomb of his father-in-law, Kevaji Acias, 
grand Akmet-oud-dowlah, (of which Etmaddowlah 



472 The Mogul Empire, 

is a corruption), a treasurer of the empire, and 
father of the famous Nour Mahal, Jehanghir's 
favorite wife. 

The Province of Agra is one of the six north- 
western provinces of British India, that together 
constitute one of the ten administrations into 
which India is divided. It contains an area of 
nine thousand four hundred and seventy-nine 
square miles, with a population of about four and 
a half millions, mostly Hindus. The land, though 
generally flat and arid, is well watered by the 
Ganges, Jumna, and Chumbul, and by means of 
irrigation produces good crops of grain, cotton, 
indigo and pulse. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE MOGUL EMPIRE — AURUXGZEBE. 

THE reign of Shah Jehan was marked from its 
very beginning by the greatest extrava- 
gance and extreme love of display. Beautiful and 
costly buildings were erected; and the anniversa- 
ries of his accession were kept with a profusion of 
outlay that was unusual even in those days of 
oriental lavishness. The first of these celebrations 
is said to have cost nearly ten millions of dollars. 
The city of Delhi was rebuilt by him, in a style of 
wondrous beauty and oi'b an extensive scale. His 
famous peacock throne, the wonder of his own 
age, and of many succeeding ones, was one blaz- 
ing mass of precious stones, diamonds, sapphires, 
emeralds, rubies, opals and pearls, so arranged as to 
represent the plumage of a peacock in its natural 

473 



474 The Mogul Emfire, 

state. This superb throne is said to have cost 
thirty-two and a halt* millions of dollars. The 
revenues of his kingdom must have been immense, 
for with all his profuse expenditures, and costly 
wars, there was at one time an accumulation in 
his treasury of coined money not less than one 
hundred and twenty millions of dollars, besides 
fabulous quantities of costly jewels and massive 
gold plate, and adornments of the state apart- 
ments. Despite his undutiful conduct prior to his 
father's death, he was as a sovereign most ex- 
emplary in the performance of public and private 
duties, in which he displayed uniformlj^ a wise 
consideration, united w*ith a generous liberality. 
Even the large sums expended on the throne and 
the Taj, his two most costly works, gave employ- 
ment and the means of living to thousands of his 
subjects, to whom it was undoubtedly better to 
pay wages than alms. As a ruler, a warrior and a 
legislator, he has had few equals among oriental 
monarchs; and despite his lavish outlays, un- 
equalled by those of any of his race, his people 
were subjected to no extra taxation for a single 
time during his reign of thirty years, but were in 



Reign of Shah Jehan. 477 

the main more liglitly burdened than any of their 
ancestors had been.* 

The chief military exploits of this reign were 
the effectual repulse of the Uzbee invaders of 
Cabul, who were driven back with frightful loss ; 
the summary chastisement inflicted on the Afghan 
general, Lodi, in his repeated invasions of the 
Deccan ; and the quelling of various internal dis- 
sensions and revolts. Less happily ended some 
difficulties with the Mahratta chieftain, Sevaji ; and 
several acts of insubordination on the part of 
Aurungzebe, the emperor's third son, culminating 
at last in a severe encounter between the three 
princes : Dara, the eldest son on one side, with an 
army of some fifty thousand horse, and the 
younger princes, Morad and Aurungzebe, on the 
other, with a somewhat smaller, but better-dis- 
ciplined army, that gained a decisive victory, thus 
closing the brilliant reign of Shah Jehan, and 
ushering in that of Aurungzebe. Prince Dara's 
defeat was so desperate that with about two thous- 
and followers, he fled toward Delhi ; Shah Jehan 
who was alarmingly ill at Agra, was imprisoned 
there in his palace for the remaining seven years of 

* Malcolm's " Indian Mutiny." 



4T8 The Mogul Empire. 

his life ; Prince Morad was confined in the strong 
fort of Gwalior, where he was afterwards executed 
by the order of Aurungzebe ; and the conqueror 
was proclaimed emperor under the title of Alam- 
ghir, the name by which he is always spoken of 
by Indians. Dara, the eldest brother, wandered 
as a fugitive for several years in the vicinity of 
Delhi and Ahmed abad, when he was captured and 
put to death at Delhi. Shan Jehan lived seven 
years after his imprisonment, in indifferent health, 
but comfortably provided for amid the scenes of 
his early felicity ; perhaps not unwilling to resign 
the cares of sovereignty for retirement and rest in 
his declining years. He died in his own beautiful 
citadel at Agra, A. D. 1666. 

Among the varied endowments of the new 
emperor, seems to have been a trio of names. His 
proper name, and that by which he was long called, 
was Mohammed ; as a special favorite of his grand- 
father, Jehanghir, he was called by him, Aurung- 
zebe, i. g., " Ornament of the Throne," and when 
about to be proclaimed, he himself selected the 
cognomen, Alam-ghir, " Conqueror of the World; " 
and he was accustomed to have carried before him, 
as his symbol, a golden globe. But to show that 



Aurungzehe, 479 

he had not yet entered into full possession of his 
dominions, he used to tear off a corner of every 
sheet of paper used in his correspondence. 

In the year 1650, when about thirty years of 
age, this prince had been appointed by his father 
viceroy of the Deccan, where he had previously 
commanded several military expeditions. Here, 
while affecting great zeal for the Moslem faith, 
and unqualified obedience to the commands of his 
father and sovereign, the ambitious prince was 
amassing for himself great wealth, and gathering 
experience as a military leader, to be used against 
his own parent ; his treasonable plottings resulting, 
as we have seen, in the erection of his own fortune 
upon the ruins of his entire family. Talents of a 
brilliant order were the heritage of Aurungzebe ; 
and he seems to have possessed withal the happy 
tact of profiting by opportunities whenever they 
presented. His reign was the period of greatest 
prosperity in the history of his race in India, where 
his empire included nearly the entire peninsula, 
with Cabul on the west and Assam on the east. 
For the first ten years of his administration, the 
country enjoyed almost unbroken peace ; and his 
wisdom was especially manifest in anticipating and 



480 The Mogul Empire, 

assuaging a famine ; and later in suppressing an 
insurrection of Hindu devotees headed by a female 
saint. A far greater misfortune lay in store for 
Aurungzebe in the doings of the Mahrattas — a 
race of men of whom little was known prior to 
the reign of Shah Jehan, save their casual mention 
by one of the Mohammedan historians ; and whose 
influence has been scarcely recognized, until they 
were brought into notice by an adventurer named 
Sevaji. Against this almost invincible leader, 
Aurungzebe sent in vain his most experienced 
generals, and he determined to take the field in 
person against this redoubtable foe. From this 
period he resided over twenty years in the Deccan, 
bringing the Carnatic into quiet submission and 
ruling an empire, that in wealth and population, 
has seldom been surpassed. India owes to Ain^ung- 
zebe several of her finest bridges, hospitals and 
mosques. Among the latter is one in the town of 
Aurungabad, built in connection with the beauti- 
ful mausoleum of Rahia Dourani, erected by 
Aurungzebe in memory of his favorite daughter. 
It was the design of this emperor to build as 
gorgeous a tomb as the celebrated Taj, of which 
this is an evident copy, but in no respect its equal. 



Aurungabad. 483 

The town contains another mausoleum of even 
greater notoriety than that of the Rahia — the 
tomb of Shah Sonfi, the famous Moslem saint, 
standing in the centre of a beautiful sheet of 
water in the suburbs of the town. Aurungabad, 
formerly the capital of a province of the same 
name, was for a shorty time the residence of 
Aurungzebe and his court; but it contains now 
little besides its ruins to remind one of a royal 
city. Scarcely enough remains of the emperor's 
palace on the banks of the Doundhna, to judge of 
its original appearance. Probably even in its 
palmiest days, this now forsaken abode of royalty 
was inferior in splendor to most of the monuments 
left by the " Great Moguls ; " and the pillaging pro- 
pensities of the Mahrattas doubtless found exer- 
cise in dismantling it while in their possession. 
The province, which contains about fifty thousand 
square miles, was incorporated with the empire by 
Shah Jehan in 1633 ; later it was taken by the 
Mahrattas, then by the Nizam, and last of all it 
passed under British rule. 

About four leagues north of the city is the 
celebrated fortress of Daoulatahad^ built on a huge 
conical block of granite, that stands isolated in 



484 The Mogul Empire, 

solitary grandeur, in the midst of a vast plain. 
From its peculiar position, it is a very conspicuous 
object seen from a great distance, and is one of the 
most impregnable fortresses in India. Its name sig- 
nifies, " Abode, of Fortune." The road leading 
to the summit is a long tunnel bored into the rock, 
to which light and air are communicated through 
dormer windows. The ascent is by an easy incline, 
passing gratings, portcullises, and trap-doors, that 
stand as checks to whoever may have eluded the 
sentries. About midway, there is a very steep 
staircase closed in by a horizontal plate of iron 
pierced with holes. At the outcome of this road, 
a handsome Saracen gate opens on the exterior 
rampart, a wall some sixteen feet thick and fifty- 
two feet high, with a circumference of more than 
two and a half miles. The interior of the fortress 
is divided into nine parts, by as many concentric 
enclosures, rising one above another, up to the last, 
which overlooks all the rest.* 

At the base of the fort rises the town in which 
some travellers and historians believe they recog- 
nize the famous Tagara of the Greeks. Under 
the name of Deogurh, " Dwelling of God," this 

Rousselet's " India and its Native Princes." p. 75. 



Daoulatabad. 485 

town was long the capital of the Deccan, and 
passed through strange vicissitudes. In 1294 it 
was occupied by the emperor Ala-u-din ; and sub- 
sequently, Mohammed Toghlak, one of Ala's suc- 
cessors, desiring, on account of its impregnable 
fortress, to make it the capital of the Indian 
Empire, compelled the inhabitants of Delhi, sixty 
thousand in number, to remove their effects to 
Daoulatabad. Pipalghat, a neighboring acclivity, 
was the work of a noble of the court of Aurung- 
zebe. Two columns still standing on the road 
testify to this fact, and that the sculptures and 
decorations used everywhere, even for the flagging . 
of the pathway, were all taken from the remains 
of Hindu temples that had been devastated during 
the wars. This desecration of things made sacred 
by religious worship, and so opposed to oriental 
ideas of fitness, was in the case alluded to, a 
special ovation to the fanatical zeal of Aurungzebe, 
and was doubtless very pleasing to the royal bigot, 
whose so-called religious zeal seems to have kept 
pace with the violence and selfishness of his life- 
long career. The plain spreading out from the 
road is nearly covered with mausoleums, very 
many of them in a ruinous condition, with their 



486 The Mogul Umpire. 

domes and minarets half hidden behind the luxu- 
riant tropic growth, and the over-hanging branches 
of time-honored trees. Beyond the plain, is the 
little village of Rauzah, " Paradise," surrounded 
by a Moslem cemeter}^ that is made famous as 
containing the tomb of Aurungzebe, and also of 
that of the noted saint Berham-u-din, a descendant 
of the prophet. 

The province of Aurungabad formed part of the 
populous native state of Hyderabad, frequently 
spoken of as the territory of the Nizam. The 
famous fortress of Golconda is perched on the very 
summit of a steep and rocky hill. This fortress is 
also the treasury of the Nizam, where are kept the 
state funds and jewels ; and it may be that from 
this fact has arisen the custom of using Golconda 
as the synonym for great wealth. The diamond 
mines of Golconda are located several miles east 
of the fortress. The city of Hyderabad, capital 
of the Nizam, is three hundred miles east of 
Poonah, and contains the Jumma Musjid, a superb 
Mohammedan mosque, built of white stone, and 
an exact copy of the Mosque at Mecca. It is alto- 
gether a city of Moslems — population and pro- 



Ahmedahad. 487 

clivities, prince and palace, partaking of the same 
character. 

The town of Ahmedabad, where the fugitive 
prince Dara concealed himself prior to his capture 
and execution by Aurungzebe, was the ancient 
capital of the Sultans, and is still one of the most 
magnificent cities of India. It was founded in 
1412, by Sultan Ahmed, whose name it bears, on 
the site of a Hindu town of some notoriety. 
Ahmed, having in his conquests sacked several im- 
portant Rajput cities, applied the beautiful and 
costly materials to the early building of the superb 
mosques and palaces with which this city abounds. 
His architects and builders, being of Hindu origin, 
preserved in the temples of their adopted faith, the 
style of architecture peculiar to the country, which 
is quite distinct from the Saracen order introduced 
into India with the Tartar dynasty. 

About the year 1570, Ahmedabad came into the 
possession of Akbar, and under his reign and that 
of his successors, was the seat of one of the most 
opulent viceroyalties of the empire. Among other 
personages of note, the beautiful Nour Mahal, 
wife of Jehaughir, held her court here at one 
time I and the emperor himself was fond of seek- 



488 The Mogul Empire. 

iiig rest and relaxation in this beautiful city, away 
from state cares. In 1737, it was annexed to the 
kingdom of Baroda, and in 1818 it was given up 
to the English, who have since held it. The 
superb ramparts of the city make a circuit of 
nearly eight miles, enclosing unquestionably the 
richest city in India, as regards mosques, monu- 
ments and mausoleums. 

The mosques, full fifty in number, are all built 
on high stone terraces, which gives them a pecul- 
iarl}^ commanding appearance, amid the other 
architectural adornments of the city, as their 
gilded domes and minarets stand out boldly, with 
the azure of the clear Indiaij sky for a background. 

Among the mausoleums, the most beautiful is 
that of Shah Allum, two miles from the city. 
The tomb is of porphyry, and the chamber where 
it rests is inlaid with mother-of-pearl, on which 
the light falls with prismatic radiance from a deli- 
cate trellis-work of stone. 

The great scourge of Aurungzebe was the 
Mahratta power, rapidly on the increase, during 
the last half of his reign. As Charlemagne wept 
on beholding the Norman ships on the Seine, so 
Aurungzebe foresaw in these incursions of hordes 



Death of Aurungzehe. 489 

he could neither conciliate nor conquer, the coming 
ruin of his race. Repeatedly he opposed their 
advances, often gaining a temporary advantage, 
but he was never able fully to annihilate their 
power — every attempt to do so seeming like fight- 
ing the sands of the sea-shore, where a new cloud 
always overwhelms the combatant, as he success- 
fully puts aside the first. 

This source of annoyance, together with the 
utter failure and severe losses of several Afghan 
campaigns, seems greatly to have soured the 
temper of Aurungzebe, and led to sundry offen- 
sive edicts, and oppressive taxation of his subjects 
to meet the expenses of these lengthy military cam- 
paigns. Murmurs arose on all sides, his troops 
clamored for pay, and in the midst of financial em- 
barrassments, and general dissatisfaction, the weary 
and troubled monarch saw that his end was ap- 
proaching, and that his busy, anxious life had 
failed to secure either peace for himself or the full 
measure of appreciation he had desired from his 
countrymen. Yet, in the main, success had at- 
tended his expeditions during all his long reign ; 
and except for the late troubles in the Deccan, the 
empire was in a most prosperous condition, while 



490 The Mogul Empire. 

few monarclis ever devoted tlieir whole lives more 
assiduously to what they deemed the interests of 
their people. The dying emperor declined having 
his sons summoned to his bedside ; but he wrote a 
letter to each, filled with wise counsels, and he 
dictated a will dividing the empire between them 
and assigning to each his particular domain.* 

Then full of regrets for the past, and fears for 
the future, Aurungzebe expired at Ahmednegur, 
February 21, 1707, in the eightieth year of his age, 
and the fiftieth of his reign. 

* Elphinstone's India. 



CHAPTER XX. 



THE :mahkattas. 



ONE of tlie most formidable powers opposed to 
each of the successive invaders of India, 
has been the Mahratta. Proud, brave, self-reliant, 
and capable of enduring all manner of hardships, 
they are a foe always formidable, and never to be 
turned aside by bribery or threats. Every man 
among them seems born to the saddle, and their 
country abounds in small, strong, sure-footed 
horses just suited to the sort of guerilla warfare 
they carry on. Armed with lances, their mounted 
hordes spread like locusts over the country during 
the days of Moslem supremacy, making rapid ad- 
vances over the worst roads, impeded by no obsta- 
cles, and appearing just where they were least 
expected, they committed all manner of depreda- 

491 



492 The Mahrattas. 

tions on the camps and outposts of the invaders ; 
and then loaded with plunder, disappeared as sud- 
denly as they came. General Malcolm refers to 
these harassing guerillas, against whom he had 
constantly to contend; of their flocking to the 
Mahratta standard each year, immediately after 
the rains; and the whole immense army setting 
forth on the campaign, with no other provision 
than the food and forage each soldier carried at his 
saddle-bow. Of course they had to levy on the 
country for subsistence ; but there was no lawless- 
ness in their plunder. They took only from their 
armed foes, sparing the country people when it 
was practicable ; and whatever booty they captured 
was carried to camp and divided among all. Thus 
they overran the richest provinces ; and not only 
was their army constantly receiving recruits, by 
the accession of Hindu adventurers and malecon- 
tents, but it actually derived prestige from seem- 
ing defeatSj growing all the time stronger and 
more powerful. The Mahrattas were the great 
scourge of Aurungzebe ; the only opponents 
against whom he seemed to make no headway ; 
and after his death, they continued their en- 
croachments, adding occasionally to their territo- 




THE ROYAL STANDARD BEARER, IN THE PROCESSION OF THE 
GUICOWAR, AT BARODA. 



Europeans in India. 495 

ries, sometimes suffering loss, but seldom was any 
real advantage gained over them ; while the 
empire daily grew weaker, and needed only some 
sudden shock to cause its entire dismemberment. 

Meanwhile, the possessions and influence of the 
English in India had been constantly increasing ; 
but the French also had appeared on the arena, 
and their naval forces, under the command of 
Labourdonnais, had for the time, put an effectual 
check on the operations of the English. When, 
however, peace had been restored between these 
powers, they each opened hostilities on various 
native princes, finding always some frivolous pre- 
text by which to excuse their ambitious scheming 
after the wealth and power of the Indies. The 
first English fleet had been dispatched to India in 
1601 ; and this was followed by others, which in 
time so aroused the jealousy of the Dutch as well 
as the Portuguese that the two made common 
cause against the English, and frequently attacked 
their ships on the high seas. This led the Eng- 
lish Company to send out much larger ships, 
well armed with heavy cannon. The result was 
almost annihilation to the Portuguese fleet that in 
1605 attacked the English off Surat, and other 



496 The Mahrattas. 

similar engagements following, in which both the 
Dutch and Portuguese suffered severely, the Eng- 
lish began to acquire prestige on the Indian seas, 
not only in the eyes of these European nations, 
but also with the native princes ; that led the lat- 
ter to seek the alliance of the English, as they had 
formerly that of the Portuguese. Then followed 
the embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to the court of 
Delhi, in the reign of Akbar, that resulted so favor- 
ably for British commerce. During the reigns of 
James I. and Charles I. not much progress was 
made ; and the rapidly-growing power of the 
Dutch was gaining the ascendency, until, the active 
mind of Cromwell saw the importance of giving 
to Anglo-Indian trade the prominence it merited. 
After the war he so successfully waged with Hol- 
land, Cromwell dictated his own terms in regard 
to Indian affairs ; and in April 1654, a treaty was 
concluded, in which " the rights and privileges of 
the British India Company were fully and honor- 
ably maintained." The marriage of Charles II., 
with the Infanta of Portugal, as before stated, 
gave to the English, in 1669, full possession of the 
island of Bombay, out of which has grown the 
immense commerce between that port and Eng- 



The East India Com'pany. 497 

land. The incapacity and unfaithfulness of their 
own officers in India greatly retarded the growth 
at this period of the Anglo-Indian colonies. The 
conduct especially of Sir John Child, one of the 
governors of Bombay, during the reign of James 
II., became so violent and offensive, that the 
emperor of Delhi openly declared war against the 
English, when the timely death of the governor 
prevented the sacking of Bombay, and restored 
peace between the English and their Indian allies. 
Then followed some years of bitter animosity be- 
tween a new East India Company and the old one, 
until in 1708 the two were united, and a new 
charter was obtained which gave to the company 
the right of holding courts of session and appeal, 
and also a ma3'0r's court, in each of the three 
Presidencies then created at Madras, Bombay and 
Calcutta. The Court of Directors was better con- 
stituted, and new life and vigor began to appear in 
every department of the service. This brings us 
back to the troublous times that immediately pre- 
ceded and followed the death of Aurungzebe, in 
connection with the Mahrattas. Maha Rachtra^ 
"The Great Kingdom," is the name that for more 
than two centuries has been applied to the country 



498 The Mahrattas. 

of the Mahrattas, a vast region of well-watered 
and fertile valleys, intersected by mountain ranges, 
and now divided into the Provinces of Poonah, 
Candeish, Nagpore, Aurungabad, and Bejapore, be- 
sides the later acquisitions of Gwalior, Baroda, and 
Indore. We find no certain data as to the origin 
of this race ; and it was not until the latter part 
of the reign of Shah Jehan that they attracted 
particular attention. Beginning then, under the 
leadership of the noted Sevaji, to strengthen their 
position in the Deccan, they ultimately acquired 
sufQcient importance not only to change the Mos- 
lem destinies of India, but at one period to cause 
serious trouble to the Anglo-Indian Government. 
And it seems quite probable that, but for the in- 
crease of British power in the country, India 
would, through the Mahrattas, have been restored 
to the Hindus. Even in our own day, despite the 
stringency of British rule, the Mahrattas have, to 
a great extent, preserved their ancient institutions, 
their elective assenjbly, and the independence of 
their communes governed by the mayors of their 
villages. 

Sevaji Bhousa, the founder of the Mahratta 
dynasty in the Deccan, was born A. D. 1627, and 



Sevaji Bhousa. 499 

when scarcely eighteen years of age was admitted 
by his father to the joint management of the 
jaghire of Poonah. This afforded him opportu- 
nity of indulging the wandering, romantic life of 
which he seemed so fond ; and furthermore of col- 
lecting around him a band of brave and trusty 
followers, through whose help he secured several 
hill forts, and then laid violent hands on the reve- 
nues of his father's fief. His next step was revolt 
against the king of Bijapore, the capture of other 
forts, and the conquest of the whole Northern Con- 
con. This threw into his hands immense treasure, 
and enabled him with largely augmented forces to 
enter the imperial territories, take the town of 
Juner, and carry off considerable booty. These 
atrocities seem to have been overlooked by Aurung- 
zebe, who was just at that time occupied in secur- 
ing the crown of Delhi for himself, and putting 
his father and brothers out of the way. At a 
later period, during the absence of the emperor in 
Cashmere, Sevaji, after devastating several towns 
in the Deccan, made a successful raid into Surat, 
sacked the town, assumed the title of Rajah, and 
even commenced the coining of money with his 
own effigy. These high-handed measures brought 



500 The Mahrattas, 

upon Sevaji the cliastisement of the emperor, to 
whom the bandit-chief made submission, and soon 
after received a commission in the Delhi army, 
where he served with such gallantry as to elicit 
the warmest praises of Aurungzebe. But the 
'next year found Sevaji again in the field on his 
own account, as invincible a foe to his imperial 
master as he had been useful as an ally. 

Bijapore and Golconda both purchased immunity 
at the hands of the Mahratta chief by the pay- 
ment of immense sums of money, thus practically 
acknowledging his supremacy. An attempt of 
Aurungzebe to seize the person of Sevaji, proving 
unsuccessful, afforded to the chief a pretext for 
open war, whereby the Mahrattas recovered pos- 
session of several important hill forts, and gained 
firmer footing in Candeish and Surat. 

The attention of Aurungzebe was at this period, 
1680, diverted by the failure of his efforts to re- 
duce his Rajput subjects to submission, by the 
murmurs of the Hindu portion of his empire at 
the offensive edicts whereby all but Moslems were 
debarred from offices of trust under the govern- 
ment, and the jezzia or "poll-tax on infidels " was 
revived; and more than all, by his own jealous 



(jTolconda Subdued. 50l 

dread of " coming events," that seemed to " cast 
their shadows before." This combination of 
troubles not only emboldened the Mahrattas, but 
equally unfitted the emperor to cope with his per- 
sistent adversaries ; and though the indomitable 
chief, Sevaji, had died of a sudden illness just after 
one of his raids for the annexation of Mysore to 
his territories, the emperor found in Sambaji, the 
son and successor of Sevaji, a foe equally harass- 
ing and far more unscrupulous than the father. 
Sambaji, with his hordes, ravaged Guzerat, and 
though often unable to cope with the large forces 
of the emperor, he continued by repeated sorties 
from his hill forts, to cut off supplies, plunder the 
envoys, and effectually to embarrass the move- 
ments of the imperial army. Bijapore was, how- 
ever, taken and dismantled by Aurungzebe, the 
subjugation of Golconda followed, and soon after, 
Sambaji fell into the hands of the imperialists, and 
was beheaded in prison. But the Mahrattas were 
not subdued. Sambaji's brother assumed com- 
mand, the old tactics were continued, their foes 
harassed in every conceivable way, and themselves 
rarely exposed to danger. Aurungzebe, with all 
his indomitable energy and perseverance, began to 



502 l!he Mahrattas. 

be discouraged after the more than ten years he 
had spent with his immense army, in pursuing this 
Hydra-headed foe from point to point, with no 
perceptible progress made in subduing them. 
Finding it impossible longer to maintain his large 
army in the Deccan, under so many disadvantages, 
and worn out with fatigue, he ordered a retreat, 
and deemed himself fortunate in arriving at 
Ahmednagur, with the loss of a considerable por- 
tion of his once proud and invincible army.* 

Here, shortly after, occurred the death of this 
warrior king, the least happy of all the Tartan 
monarchs — a man whose selfish and hollow nat- 
ure did more to undermine his own happiness and 
alienate the affections of his people than even acts 
of cruelty or injustice could have done. 

The bequests and injunctions of Auruugzebe to 
his sons, concerning the succession, Avere wholly 
unheeded by them, Moazzim, the elder causing 
himself to be proclaimed emperor of all India, at 
Cabul, under the title of Bahadur Shah, and 
Azim, the second son taking the same step at 
Agra. To settle the disputed point, the rivals 
took the field, and in the first battle Azim and his 

* Duff's History of the Mahrattas. 



Mohammed Shah. 505 

two sons were all killed, leaving Bahadur Sliah in 
possession of the field and the crown. This being 
disputed by Prince Cambakhsh, the younger 
brother, he was attacked near Hyderabad, his 
army defeated, and himself mortally wounded. 
Behadar Shah having thus waded to the throne as 
his father had done, through the blood of all his 
brothers, lived but five ^ years to enjoy the dearly- 
purchased sovereignty. These years were spent in 
settling the existing troubles with the Rajputs ; 
arranging the succession that was being disputed 
between the nephew of the late Mahratta Rajah 
and the guardians of his infant son ; and lastly in 
an expedition to the Punjaub against the Seikhs, 
where he captured several forts and drove back 
those rude warriors to their own territories. Re- 
turning to Lahore, Bahader Shah died after a brief 
illness, in the seventy-first year of his age, A. D. 
1712. After his death followed disputes between 
his four sons for the throne, the brief reign of the 
eldest, his deposition by his relative, Tarokhsir, 
and sundry plottings and murders by sovereigns 
and viziers, with several brief, unimportant reigns 
marked only by treachery and blood, till the acces- 
sion of Mohammed Shah in 1719. 



y 



506 The Mahrattas, 

Meanwhile the Mahrattas continued their depre- 
dations, attacking the imperial forces at various 
points, invading large portions of the country, and 
pillaging its treasures. Several times Delhi was 
threatened by them ; and nearly the whole coun- 
try, from the Himalayas to the Krishna, felt the 
influence of their incursions, which would have 
proved still more destructive but for the constantly 
recurring dissensions among themselves. The 
English taking advantage of these internal troubles 
pushed their own cause with such skill and energy 
that ultimately nearly the whole Mahratta coun- 
try was annexed to the possessions of the East 
India Company, the sovereigns of the several prin- 
cipalities governing under " English protection," 
i. e., English control. The last battle in which the 
Mahrattas figure as a distinct people, was that of 
Paniput against the Durani Shah of Afghanistan, 
in 1761, when they suffered a terrible defeat, and 
few escaped to tell the tale of their disasters ; 
after which, years elapsed before the Mahrattas 
were again in a position to exercise any influence 
in Indian affairs. Most of the nobles and military 
chiefs went into exile, finding refuge at the courts of 
the reigning princes of Gwalior, Baroda and Indore. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE MOGUL DYNASTY — FEOM MOHAMMED 
SHAH TO THE END OF THE DYNASTY. 

FEW monarchs ever ascended a throne under 
more discouraging circumstances than sur- 
rounded Mohammed Shah on his accession, in 1719. 
The oppressive and presumptuous acts of the vizier 
of Farokhsir, and the plottings of Hosen Ali, his 
military commander-in-chief, together with the 
secret murder of the late monarch, had so estranged 
the affections of the people from the ruling powers, 
that they looked with suspicion if not with an- 
imosity, upon the new occupant of the throne. 
The whole country was in disorder, the treasury 
empty, and many of the nobles in revolt ; while 
insurrections seemed the rule, and a quiet, orderly 
administration the evident exception. Among 
other disturbances was the revolt of Asof Jah, 

507 



508 The Mogul Dynasty, 

governor of Mai war, who raised a large army, 
marched into the Deccan, and by the co-operation 
of the Mahrattas established himself as an in- 
dependent chief. To put down this daring at- 
temjDt, Hosen Ali, accompanied by the emperor 
(whom the general compelled to accompany him), 
set out for the Deccan. On the way Mohammed, 
who was becoming disgusted with the persistent 
arrogance of his general, caused him to be assassin- 
ated ; and tliis led to the revolt and ultimate ruin 
of the vizier, Abdallah, who was the brother of 
Hosen Ali, the general, and to the recall and 
appointment of Asof Jah to the viziership. A 
single year's service resulted in the resignation of 
the minister, and his return to the Deccan, Avhere 
he again took up arms against tlie emperor. No 
decisive action was taken, however, nor any im- 
portant advantage gained on either side. In truth, 
there seems little worthy of record in the history 
of the times, till the year 1738, when Nadir Shah, 
the ambitious king of Persia, having already con- 
quered a large portion of the Afghan territories, 
crossed the Indus, confident that an easy conquest 
and a rich booty awaited him in India. Rousing 
himself from the effeminate frivolity that had 



ISfadir Shah. 509 

occupied the greater portion of his reign, Moham^ 
med went forth at tlie head of such troops as could 
be hastily summoned to meet the invader. A de- 
cisive battle took place at Carnal, resulting in the 
defeat of Mohammed and his submission to the 
Persian monarch. Nadir Shah permitted the em- 
peror to remain unguarded in his own quarters, 
till they set out for Delhi, where the two monarchs 
resided under the same roof. The sojourn of Nadir 
Shah in the Indian capital was only fifty-three 
days ; but though so brief, in it was recorded such 
a story of rapacity and bloodshed as long outlived 
the perpetrators of those atrocities. An indis- 
criminate massacre of the inhabitants of the city 
lasted for a whole day, and the number of lives 
sacrificed has been variously estimated at from 
thirty thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand. 
Then followed a general plunder of the capital 
from ,the king's treasury down to the meanest 
dwelling. The spoils appropriated by the Persian 
monarch, as payment for this most unwelcome 
visit, were about forty-five millions of dollars in 
coin, more than that amount in jewels, and gold 
and silver plate ; and whole droves of the finest 
horses, elephants and camels the country afforded. 



510 The Mogul Dynasty. 

besides hundreds of artisans in gold and silver, 
who were carried captive to the Persian capital. 
Before leaving Delhi, Nadir Shah seated Moham- 
med on his throne, and with his own hands re- 
placed the regal diadem on his brow, at the same 
time enjoining on the chiefs and nobles, the strict- 
est obedience to the reinstated emperor. The 
prospect was certainly desperate enough — an ex- 
hausted treasury, devastated cities, and his people 
without the means of living — these were the 
inheiitance upon which the restored monarch had 
entered. More troubles in the Carnatic, the in- 
terference of the Nizam, then of the French 
commandant of Pondicherry, and the predatory 
incursions of Chanda Sahib, the deposed nabob of 
the Carnatic, were the events of the next eight 
years, when in 1748, the death of the Nizam at 
the age of one hundred years, gave rise to conten- 
tions as to the succession, in which both the French 
and English took such part as might best subserve 
their own interests. 

The only events of historic importance occurring 
at this period, were the rise of the Rohillas, an 
Afghan tribe inhabiting a mountain region near 
Oudh, and the invasion of India by the Afghan 



The Rohillas. 511 

chief, Alimed Shah Durani. The former was 
repelled by the emperor in person ; the latter, by 
prince Ahmed, his son, with heavy loss. These 
events had scarcely transpired when by tlie sudden 
death of his father, the young prince succeeded to 
the throne, under the title of Ahmed Shah. His 
father had reigned just twenty-nine years, and ex- 
pired 1748, leaving his son in undisputed possession 
of a devastated empire and a discontented people. 

To repel a fresh incursion of the Rohillas, the 
new monarch dispatched his vizier, Safder Jang, 
who, proving unequal to the task, was compelled 
to call in the aid of Holkar and Scindia, two 
Mahratta chiefs whose names, then almost un- 
known, became afterwards so famous in Indian 
warfare. These invincible chieftains not only 
obtained a decisive advantage over the Rohillas, 
but drove them back to the foot of the Himalaj^as, 
where they were glad to sue for peace on any 
terms.* 

The next foe to be met, was the Afghan king, 
who after marching into the Punjaub, and seizing 
upon Lahore, demanded of the emperor the cession 
of this entire region, to be held independently of 

*Elphinstone's India. 



512 The Mogul Dynasty. 

the Indian Empire ; and Ahmed, conscious of his 
ability to cope with his foe, was compelled to 
yield to this unjust claim. 

Dissensions between the sovereign and his vizier 
followed, culminating in the deposition of Ahmed, 
violence to the royal person, and the placing of a 
new emperor on the throne, under the title of 
Alam Ghir II. A. D. 1754. The violent conduct 
of the vizier, Ghazi-u-din, toward the new sover- 
eign, and his evident determination to govern 
according to his own pleasure, while his royal 
master looked on approvingly, rendered the office 
of the emperor a mere sinecure, destitute of power 
over himself and his subjects. This atrocity of 
Ghazi-u-din, and his extreme severity toward the 
people led to open mutiny ; and his violation of 
the recent treaty with the Afghan king, brought 
him again across the Indus, and resulted in the 
plunder of Delhi, and the indiscriminate slaugh- 
ter of the inhabitants. The devastated capital, 
thus robbed of what had escaped the rapacity of 
the Persians, was left by the Afghan king in the 
hands of a Rohilla chief, while the conqueror re- 
turned to his own country. Ghazi-u-din now 
called in the aid of the Mahrattas, and by their 



Ghazi-u-din, 515 

help, he shortly took violent possession of Delhi, 
assassinated the unfortunate Alamghir, and ulti- 
mately wrested from the Afghans the whole of the 
country ceded to them by Ahmed Shah. This 
brought the irate Durani once more across the 
Indus, and marching with a formidable army, 
southward he met the Mahratta forces on the 
plains of Paniput, near the Jumna, where in 1761, 
occurred that last battle, before mentioned, in 
which the Mahrattas figured as a distinct peo- 
ple. The invading army having thus effect- 
ually destroyed the last remnants of the Tartar 
Empire of India, retired beyond the Indus, leaving 
the desolated country to its fate. The fugitive 
Shah Alum, the heir to the throne of Delhi, sub- 
sequently obtained possession of the capital of his 
ancestors ; but having no power to retain it he fell 
into the hands of a Rohilla chief, who after put- 
ting out his eyes, gave him over to Scindia, the 
latter retaining him in close confinement at Delhi, 
till that city was taken by the British forces, in 
1803. Shah Alum and his son, Akbar Shah both 
died pensioners on the bounty of the East India 
Company ; and with these princes ended the race 
of the Tartar kings of India.* 

* Malcolm's " Indian Mutiny." 



516 The Mogul Dynasty, 

Meanwhile the growth of Anglo-Indian power 
had been steady and sure : the dissensions that so 
completely annihilated the Tartar Empire, turning 
every wa}^ to the advantage of the British. The 
rapid decay of Portuguese and Dutch power in 
India, had left the French the chief rivals of the 
English on the eastern waters ; and a cordial hatred 
existed between these nations. The first expedi- 
tion against Pondicherry having failed through the 
superior valor and skill of the French admiral, 
Labourdonnais, who, in 1747 had in turn attacked 
and reduced the English settlement of Madras, the 
British made a second attempt against Pondicherry 
under the admiral, Boscawen. This also proved a 
failure ; but the reputation of British arms was 
more than vindicated by the brilliant victories 
achieved at Arcot in 1751, by Lieutenant (after- 
wards Lord) Clive, whose name just then, be- 
gan to appear in the annals of Anglo-Indian 
history. Not only did Clive obtain possession of 
the town and citadel, but with only two hundred 
English and three hundred Seapoys, he effectually 
resisted a siege of nearly two months, against nine 
thousand native, and nearly two hundred French 
troops, and finally pursued the retreating foe, and 



Lord Clive, 517 

dispersed them with heavy loss. This terminated 
hostilities between the French and English for a 
short time ; and after some other less important 
passages of arms, peace having in the meantime 
been declared between these hostile powers in 
Europe, an amicable arrangement was entered 
into, whereby the French and English East India 
Companies should thereafter act in concert. The 
French meanwhile, had been losing favor with the 
native princes, while the latter were becoming in- 
creasingly friendly to the British. S u raj-al-Dao ulah 
who had succeeded his uncle, Alverdi Khan, as 
viceroy of Bengal, was however, an exception, 
seeming to cherish for these foreigners who had 
found shelter in his domain, a most cordial hatred, 
and to watch for opportunities to injure and annoy 
them. It was during the administration of the 
uncle, that the emperor Mohammed Shah had, in 
gratitude for the valuable services of the medical 
officer attached to the English embassy, conceded 
all they desired in regard to Calcutta, giving them 
many privileges of trade not before enjoyed, 
though quite in opposition to the wishes of the 
viceroy, who was likewise vizier to the emperor. 
This enmity of Alverdi seems to have been trans- , 



518 The Mogul Dynasty, 

mitted, with interest, to his successors who, not 
satisfied with the accumulated treasures of his 
uncle, determined to seize on the British factory at 
Calcutta, which, from the extensive commerce 
carried on, he supposed to be of great value. 
Taking advantage of their defenceless condition, 
Suraj marched suddenly upon the little band who 
garrisoned the British factory, and despite their 
gallant resistance, he took possession of the place, 
and gave up the town to the pillage of his lawless 
troops. All the English residents who could do so 
took refuge in the few English ships anchored in 
the harbor ; but one hundred, and forty-six, under 
the command of Mr. Hoi well, fell into the hands of 
the viceroy, who ordered them to be confined for 
the night, in a small close room, known as the 
"Black Hole." It was the 20th of June, (1756), 
the weather was intensely hot, the cell miserably 
ventilated, and only eighteen feet square, and the 
sufferings of the unfortunate victims beggars 
description. Many fell fainting to the ground and 
were trampled to death, some fought desperately 
to reach the small hole that served as a window, 
and expired in raving madness while struggling 
bravely for life ; and of the whole number thrust. 



The ^'Blaeh HoW 519 

into that den of despair, only twenty-six remained 
alive. To avenge tbeir terrible tragedy, Clive, 
with such forces as could be spared from Madras, 
was despatched to Calcutta, and not only re- 
captured the city, but compelled the viceroy to 
sue for peace ; and the treacherous Suraj, proving 
a dangerous foe, was shortly after deposed by 
English authority. On the 22nd of June, 1757, 
the battle of Plassy was fought, which ended not 
only in a great victory to the English, but the 
death of the late viceroy, Suraj, who, falling into 
the hands of the son of Mir Jaffier, was assassin- 
ated by his order. War having again been de- 
clared between England and France, Major Coote 
was sent to expel the French from Behar, which 
was promptly effected, and an amicable treaty 
arranged with the native governor. An unsuc- 
cessful attempt to reduce Trichinopoly, and other 
aggressive measures, were undertaken by the 
French in retaliation ; but no advantage was 
gained until the capture of Fort St. David on 
the Carnatic coast, June 1, 1758, and the establish- 
ment of French power in the Deccan at about the 
same time. The severity of the French general, 
Lally, had alienated not only the native nobles 



520 The Mogul Dynasty, 

but even liis own troops ; and the former were 
easily diverted from their allegiance, whilst the 
latter were discouraged in the performance of their ' 
duties ; so that his siege of Tanjore seemed fruit- 
less mainly from want of co-operation. The siege 
of Madras failed also, and shortly afterwards Lally 
suffered a total defeat before Wandiwash, with 
heavy losses of artillery and baggage; while the 
English arms, especially under Generals Coote, 
Clive, and Forde, carried victory and renown 
everywhere in their course. Arcot, Timery, Devi- 
cotah, Yaldore, Carical, Cillambaram, Trincomalee, 
Cuddalore, Pennacoil and Alamparva all were sur- 
rendered to the English ; and Vizigapatam having 
been captured from the French by Rajah Amun- 
deraz, was by him made over to the Madras 
Government, in return for aid rendered him in 
subjugating the Circars. Forde's victory at Masul- 
ipatam, in April 1759, was a most brilliant affair, 
and the results great and lasting in establishing 
the prestige of British arms over those of the 
French, and awakening the confidence of the 
native princes. Soon after, the governor of Ben- 
gal was aided by Clive, in retaining possession of 
his province, and in return made his benefactor an 



Decadence of French Power, 521 

Omra of the empire, and bestowed on him a jag- 
hire near Calcutta, worth $150,000 a year.* 

In the Madras Presidenc}^, the star of the Eng- 
lish was still in the ascendency. The French 
after various defeats fell back upon Pondicherry, 
to find themselves completely at the mercy of the 
English ; and after sustaining a siege of eight 
months, the fort and town capitulated. From this 
period the decay of Franco-Indian power was 
steady and sure ; though a feeble existence was 
maintained for about a score of years longer. In 
1779, all their settlements fell into the hands of 
the English, and as military posts, they were com- 
pletely dismantled. Bussy was killed in battle ; 
Lall}^ on his return to Europe, was tried for treason 
and executed ; and though subsequently, some 
spasmodic attempts have been made to revive their 
oriental trade, the French as a nation have long 
ceased to take any important part in Indian affairs. 
But at the taking of Pondicherry in 1760, France 
lost her prestige in India, and this was really the 
beginning of the end. 

Though peace was at this time existing between 
England and Holland, the Dutch became so jealous 

* Malcolm's " Indian Mutiny,'* 



522 The Mogul Dynasty, 

of the growth of British power and territory in 
India, that they sent an expedition from Batavia, 
consisting of seven ships, manned by seven hun- 
dred Europeans and eight hundred Malays. The 
ships entered the Hooghly and landed their forces 
near Calcutta, intending to march to their settle- 
ment at Chinsura. General Forde, acting under 
the orders of the English governor, so effectually 
interposed to prevent their progress, that of the 
entire number, only fourteen men reached their 
destination, all the others being killed or captured. 
The ships surrendered, and the Dutch were re- 
quired to pay the expenses of the whole affair, or 
be driven from the Province of Bengal. They 
chose the former, and seemingly convinced of their 
inability to cope with the stronger power, they 
retired from the field as the Portuguese and French 
had done, leaving the victorious Britons masters of 
the course. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE ENGLISH POWER — LORDS OLIVE AND 
HASTINGS. 

THE prospect of political calm that followed 
the events of the last chapter, enabled Gen- 
eral Clive once more to revisit his native land for 
the purpose of recruiting his impaired health. 
This step left Colonel Calliand acting commander- 
in-chief ; and Mr. Yansittart was appointed by the 
" Court of Directors " as the head of the execu- 
tive during Clive's absence. This appointment 
excited much dissension in the Calcutta Council, 
as contrary to usage ; and Mr. Yansittart's conduct, 
in arranging his plans with a secret committee, 
without consulting the " Board," naturally tended 
to the increase of unfriendly feeling. The treas- 
ury too, was empty, Mir Jaf&er, the viceroy of 

, 623 



624 The English Power. 

Bengal was in arrears with his officers, and the 
troops at Patna were clamoring for pay. Amidst 
these complicated disputes and difficulties, arising 
out of the absence of Clive, the viceroy, Jaffier 
was deposed by Yansittart, and Cassim Ali Khan, 
Jafficer's son-in-law, appointed in his stead. The new 
viceroy, Cassim, proved himself equally treacher- 
ous and grasping; and to secure his own ends, he 
by false accusations, compassed the death of Ram- 
narain, the Hindu governor of Bezar, though this 
governor had always been a faithful ally of the 
English, and had committed no fault but that of 
having a full treasury, that Cassim desired to ap- 
propriate to his own use. Sundry outbreaks 
occurred between the respective parties of the old 
and new viceroys, Vansittart's administration be- 
coming daily less popular, wdiile it was generally 
believed that his partiality for Cassim was the 
effect of corruption. Mr. Ellis, one of Vansittart's 
most determined opposers, was sent as resident to 
Patna where he paid no deference to Mir Cassim, 
and arrested his officers for interfering with the 
transit of goods ; and Cassim, in retaliation, abol- 
ished all transit duties in his domain, thus placing 
native dealers on an equal footing with Europeans. 




ZEMINDARS AND J AT PEASANTS. 



Vansittart. 52T 

These dissensions culminated in several skirmishes, 
and ultimately in more important engagements ; 
the first, with the van of the viceroy's army near 
Moorshedabad, on the 2nd of July, 1763, with the 
view on the part of the Calcutta council, of re- 
moving Cassim, and restoring Mir Jaffier to his 
old position. This action resulted unfavorably for 
Cassim who was again attacked on the 2nd of 
August, and totally defeated, with the loss of all 
his baggage and guns, besides a hundred and fifty 
boats loaded with provisions. Falling back aftet 
each defeat, Cassim was pursued by the victorious 
army ; and on the 5th of September a sudden 
assault was made compelling him to retreat within 
his capital, Mongheer, which in a few days sur- 
rendered to the English, with a garrison of two 
thousand men. On the 6th of November, Patna 
fell by storm, and Mir Cassim fled to Oudh, and 
sought the protection of the nabob. A mutinous 
spirit began to show itself among the native troops 
in the English service; and prompt, even severe 
discipline had to be used by the English higher 
officers, in order to check this spirit of insubordi- 
nation that seemed rapidly on the increase. One 
entire battalion of Seapoys went over to the 



628 The English Power. 

Indian army, taking with tliem their arms and 
accoutrements. These were pursued and taken, 
and twenty-four of the chief offenders condemned 
to be blown from cannon mouths — a sentence ex- 
ecuted under protest from the native soldiers, and 
not without considerable intimidation on their 
part. The firmness of Major Hector Munro was 
especially successful in reducing the mutinous 
troops to submission, and in quelling the wide- 
spread spirit of disaffection, as well as in destroy- 
ing the forces of the nabob of Oudh, who had 
aided and abetted the deserters, and with whom 
the treacherous Cassim found refuge after his ear- 
lier defeats. 

It was at this period, that the emperor. Shah 
Alum, during his brief season of power, made 
overtures to the Englisli, and concluded a treaty 
of alliance with them, giving to the East India 
Company full control of the province of Bengal, 
and other immunities of commerce. On the death 
of Mir Jaffier, that occurred shortl}^ after his rein- 
statement as viceroy, the council ap[)ointed his 
second son to succeed him, January 1765. 

The stock-holders in the British East India 
Company had thus far been allowed no voice in 



The East India Company 529 

the control of Indian affairs ; and they were be- 
ginning to feel restive under the evident insubordi- 
nation that prevailed among all ranks of their 
employees so far removed from their observation 
and direction. They consequently signed a peti- 
tion to the directors, requesting the appointment 
of the newly created peer, Lord Clive, to the post 
of chief-director, as one most likely to compass the 
difficulties arising out of a mutinous army and a 
destitute treasury. The request was acceeded to, 
and Lord Clive was appointed, though after con- 
siderable show of opposition on the part of the 
other directors with whom he had not been on 
good terms, previous to his leaving India. He 
accepted now, the position offered, on condition of 
being made commander-in-chief of the army, pres- 
ident of the Board of Directors, and governor of 
Bengal ; and " behig empowered to act without 
consulting the council, or being subject to its con- 
trol." Invested with this supreme power. Lord 
Clive once more sailed for India. The first abuses 
the new governor attempted to deal with, were the 
private trade carried on by officials of the govern- 
ment, and their habit of extorting presents from 
native princes and rulers, in return for offices and 



530 The English Power. 

olier favors. Lord Olive compelled all the civil 
and military servants of the company to sign a 
document, whereby they pledged themselves not 
to receive, under any pretext whatever, presents 
from native princes or rulers. With the free trade 
problem he found it more difficult to cope, as it 
had been carried on from the first, to piece out in- 
sufficient salaries. To meet this difficulty, he 
created a monopoly in salt, betel-nut and tobacco, 
for the benefit of the higher officers, to be appor- 
tioned according to their respective grades. His 
defence of this questionable proceeding was, that 
the company was itself a monopoly, and that the 
servants were merely adopting the practise of their 
superiors. The extra allowance to officers engaged 
in field service, known as " batta," was ordered to 
cease from January, 1766, except where specially 
ordered by the chief director. This created great 
displeasure among the higher officers, who threat- 
ened unless their hatta was restored by a certain 
day, to throw up their commissions- simultane- 
ously; whereupon Clive ordered fresh officers 
from Calcutta and Madras, and had the chief con- 
spirators arrested. Many were tried and dismissed 
the service, among them, General Sir R. Fletcher, 



Eyder AU. ^^1 

who was, however, afterwards reinstated by means 
of family influence, and subsequently appointed 
commander of the forces at Madras. At the 
end of January, 1767, Lord Clive resigned and 
returned to England, in consequence of failing 
health ; and a " select committee," with Mr. 
Verelst at the head was placed in charge, with 
a revenue that was scarcely meeting the expenses 
of the government. The capture of Pondicherry 
had Driven the Endish the control of the Carnatic ; 
but this was disputed by Nizam Ali, who having 
assassinated his brother, Salabat Jing, Subahdah of 
the Deccan in order to secure for himself the 
ascendency, now invaded and laid the country 
desolate; while he resisted all attempts of the 
English to take possession of the country, until 
they agreed to pay him an annual tribute, and to 
assist him with troops whenever it should be nec- 
essary. This arrangement however, brought them 
into difficulties with Hyder Ali, the governor of 
Mysore, who, rising from a subordinate position to 
the command of the army, had, by various expedi- 
ents gained possession of the domain of the Nairs 
of Malabar, and other small tracts of land in 
Southern India, of which he had constituted a 



532 The English Poiuer. 

diminutive kingdom for himself. Of this, the 
rapacious Nizam wished to gain the control, and 
the English, as agreed in the recent treaty, joined 
him in the invasion of Hyder's territory. But the 
treacherous Nizam suddenly broke faith with his 
English allies, made peace with Hyder, and offered 
to deliver into his hands the whole body of Eng- 
lish troops. Ultimately, after several skirmishes, 
Colonel Wood commanding the English forces, was 
drawn, by a ruse of Hyder, from Madras, when 
Tippoo Sahib, Hyder's son, by forced marches, 
appeared suddenly before the city, at the head of 
six thousand horse, compelling the English to sue 
for peace on the conqueror's own terms. Next 
arose troubles between the Subahdar of Oudh and 
the Rohillas, the English furnishing troops to the 
former, in compliance with the treaty entered into 
by Warren Hastings, then governor of India ; and 
the result, in which the English had a full share of 
the shame, was not only a terrible defeat of the 
innocent and peaceable Rohillas, but the annexa- 
tion of their country to Oudh. In the meantime, 
October, 1774, a new constitution had been framed 
by the British parliament, for the Indian provinces, 
and three commissioners from England were sent 




THE GOLDEISr KIOSK, IN THE VALLEY OF AMBIR. 



Hastings Resigns. 535 

out to act in concert with the governor(Hastings), 
in enforcing its adoption. Disagreements in re- 
gard to policy, arose also, between the home gov- 
ernment and the Indian colonies, resulting in 
jealousy and confusion. It was at this period that 
the impeachment of Hastings occurred, the charges 
being peculation and bribery, based upon the reve- 
lations of Rajah Nuncomar, to the effect that his 
son Goordas, and Munny Begum, had both paid tlie 
governor for the offices they held. Nuncomar was, 
at the instance of certain influential parties, cited 
first for conspiracy and then for perjury, tried 
before a jury consisting altogether of Englishmen, 
convicted and hanged. Perjury was not a capital 
offence, nor was there sufficient proof of the guilt 
of the Rajah, to have convinced an unprejudiced 
jury ; and as the circumstances have come down 
to us, there can be little doubt that the law was 
shamefully perverted in order to get rid of a 
troublesome personage. Governor Hastings next 
sent in his resignation, which was accepted, and 
when his successor had been appointed, Hastings 
saw fit, for some reason to reverse his own decision, 
and insisted on retaining his office of governor. 
On an appeal being made to the courts of law, 



586 The Eyiglish Power, 

they pronounced in his favor. Whilst this most 
disgraceful policy, attended by constant bickerings 
and recriminations on both sides, was being enacted 
in the civil department, military affairs were not 
progressing more favorably. Colonel Leslie's nego- 
tiations with different native chiefs, and his hesita- 
tion in acting with the Bombay army, caused him 
to be suspected of dishonorable intentions, and led 
to his . being superseded in his command by 
Colonel Goddard. The Mahrattas were still giving 
trouble by their incursions and depredations ; but 
in January, 1770, Colonel Goddard surprised both 
Scindia and Holkar in their camps, and dispersed 
them with heavy loss on their side ; and very soon 
after, he gained possession of Dubhoy and Ahmed- 
abad ; and the Mahrattas were driven back into 
their own country. The fort of Gwalior, believed 
by the natives to be impregnable, was also taken, 
sending terror to the hearts of the Mahrattas. 
But even these successes were the occasion of re- 
newed dissensions between the governor and his 
council, culminating in a duel between Mr. Hast- 
ings and Mr. Francis, in which the latter was 
wounded, and finally returned to England, con- 
vinced that any amicable arrangement between 



French Losses. 537 

himself and the governor would be impossible. In 
Jul}^ 1770, Admiral Sir John Lindsay reached 
Madras, as a commissioner from the home govern- 
ment, but to little purpose, so far as the settlement 
of the pending disputes was concerned. In 1769, 
the English in their treaty with Hyder, had agreed 
to assist him when necessary, against the Peishwa, 
and twice failing to render this aid when sought, 
in 1777 Hyder formed an alliance with the French 
who gladly supplied him with arms, ammunition, 
and stores to be used against their old enemies, 
the English, while Sir R. Rum bold, then governor 
of Madras, took no measures preparatory to any 
approach of Hyder in that direction. Meanwhile, 
intelligence being received in India of the renewal 
of hostilities between France and England, steps 
were immediately taken to capture the French 
settlements, left in so precarious a condition. 
Chandernagore, Carical, and Masulipatam sur- 
rendered at once ; Pondicherry capitulated after 
a vigorous defence, and the garrison marched out 
with the honors of war. All the fortifications and 
defenses were destroyed. The small fort and 
settlement of Mahe was the sole representative of 
French power in India ; and this was taken by 



538 Tlie English Power, 

Colonel Braitliwaite, in March 1779. In the fol- 
lowing November, the nabob of the Carnatic o-ave 

to 

the Madras Executive warning, that Hyder, the 
Nizam and the Maln^attas, had formed a combina- 
tion to expel the English from India.* 

On the 21st of July, Hyder crossed the frontier, 
with one hundred thousand men and more than a 
hundred pieces of artillery. Then followed a 
series of severe engagements that, cannot, within 
the limits of this work, be followed in detail. 
Arcot was besieged by Hyder and captured; at 
Perambaneam, Baillie's force was attacked by 
Tippoo Sahib, and on the 9th of September a des- 
perate engagement took place, in which, after a 
most gallant resistance, Bailie's force, reduced to 
four hundred, was compelled to yield the day. 

On the 7th of November, Sir Eyre Coote took 
his seat in the Madras council, after which, a more 
vigorous policy was pursued. At Tanjore, Col- 
onel Braithwaite's force fought bravel}^ for twenty- 
six hours gallantly defending themselves against 
nearly four times their own number, but were 
finally overpowered, and the survivors all made 
prisoners, by Tippoo and his French auxiliaries. 

* Malcolm's " Indian Mutiny." 



Trichinopoli/, 639 

The arrival of a French fleet at Pondicherry, led 
the French to attempt to retrieve their recent 
losses ; and Sir Eyre Coote marched boldly on to 
the city, disarmed the inhabitants, removed the 
stores, and destroyed the boats ; and then he 
marched on after Hyder in the direction of Trich- 
inopoly. In this vicinity a battle occurred which, 
after six hours' hard fighting, resulted in the com- 
plete defeat of the army of Mysore. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE ENGLISH POWER — TIPPOO SAHIB AND 
HIS TIMES. 

FOR several years after the appointment of Sir 
Eyre Coote, the whole Presidency of Madras 
and the region round about, was devastated by 
fierce wars against the marauding forces of the 
famous Hyder Ali, and his son, Tippoo Sahib, the 
most able native generals of the time. In the 
main, the English, by dint of superior skill, and 
better munitions of war, came off conquerors ; and 
after the death of Hyder, as Tippoo, after re- 
peated trials of his skill, became convinced of his 
utter inability to cope with the English, he, on the 
24th of February, 1792, signed a treaty which, 
though ver}^ favorable to the interests of the East 

India Company, was alike discreditable to himself 

540 




THE TOWER OF KOUTUB, PLAIN OF DELHL 



Treaty with Tippoo. 543 

and unjust to his people ; and left moreover, two 
of his sons in the hands of the English, as hostages, 
for the performance of the stipulations of the 
treaty. But before this peaceful ending of this 
terrible war, thousands of England's braA^e sons 
laid down their lives, tens of thousands of the 
children of that sunny land came to bloody deaths, 
and one of the fairest and most populous portions 
of earth's domain was desolated by war, pestilence, 
and famine. 

England and Holland being now at war. Lord 
Macartney, who had just arrived at Madras, as 
governor, determined to attack at once, the Dutch 
settlements in India. Palicat and Sadras both sur- 
rendered on the first summons, and such energy 
and ability were displayed at the siege of Naga- 
patam, as compelled the governor in less than three 
weeks to lay down their arms, and sue for peace. 
The capture of Trincomalee in Ceylon followed 
very soon after the others ; and in January 1782, 
Tellicherry and Calicut were taken and garrisoned 
with English troops. The following May, Scindia 
signed a treaty of peace at Salbyc ; and the death 
of Hyder Ali took place in December. Tippoo 
found it necessary soon after his father's demise. 



544 The English Power, 

to visit Western India to repel an invasion of the 
Seildis ; and during his absence, the English army 
separated, one division going to Tillicherry and the 
other to Merjee. The latter being joined by Gen- 
eral Matthews with a large force passed the 
Ghauts, and took Bidnore and Ananpore, and com- 
pelled Mangalore to capitulate. General Matthews 
retained in liis own possession the immense treas- 
ures found in these cities, instead of using it to 
pay off his troops ; and this produced such disaf- 
fection, that three of the officers. Colonels McLeod 
and Mackenzie and Major Shaw, left precipitately, 
to complain of him at headquarters. Receiving 
the redress they desired, they set out to return by 
sea, and were overtaken by a Mahratta fleet. 
Neither party knew of the treaty signed by Scindia, 
and an engagement followed, in which Shaw was 
killed, Mackenzie mortally wounded, and McLeod 
wounded and made prisoner. Nor was this all the 
harm done by this ill-omened treasure. Tippoo 
returning, invested Bidnore, and forced it to capit- 
ulate ; and General Matthews, before marching 
out, distributed the treasure among his own sol- 
diers. This, Tippoo deemed a violation of the 
terms agreed on, and made it a pretext for the im- 







THE PRINCESS SHAH JEHAN. 



Peace, 547 

prisoninent of Matthews, who was shortly after 
assassinated, and his associates in arms were also 
subjected to an exceedingly rigorous confinement. 
The English and French fleets had an engagement 
off Cuddalore, in which the English won a decided 
victory ; and about the same time, peace being 
declared between France and England, hostilities 
in their colonies ceased. 

At this juncture General Stuart was, for his 
tardiness and inefficiency, dismissed from the com- 
pany's service, and refusing to submit to the 
sentence was arrested and sent to England, by 
Lord Macartney. Meanwhile Colonel Fullerton 
was achieving great victories in Southern India, 
where he captured Palagatcherry and Coimbatore, 
and would have pushed on to the relief of Man- 
galore that was invested by Tippoo's troops, but 
for counter orders. 

A treaty of peace was signed between the com- 
batants, March 11th 1784, and ratified by the 
Supreme Council of Calcutta during the absence 
of Governor Hastings, who desired after his re- 
turn, to introduce several modifications, but these, 
Lord Macartney honorably rejected. 

The Supreme Court of Calcutta consisted of 



548 The English Power. 

one chief and three puisne judges ; and its juris- 
diction compassed all claims of the company 
against British subjects, and of British subjects 
against natives, presuming that the disputants 
acquiesced in appealing to its decisions. In crimi- 
nal cases, it extended to all British subjects and 
servants of the company ; but the act did not 
define what constituted a British subject, and the 
judges were in the habit of regarding all over 
whom the company exercised any influence, as 
coming within its jurisdiction. Difficulties in con- 
sequence of this vagueness often arose, especially 
in collecting debts, revenues, etc. In collecting 
the revenue, the power of exercising summar}^ en- 
forcement was vested in the provincial councils 
called Dewani Adaulut ; but with these the power 
of the Supreme Court often conflicted, the defend- 
ant being able to take out a writ of habeas covpus 
in the Supreme Court, when the judges took bail 
for the appearance of the parties, and liberated 
them. The company had also reserved to the 
nabob of Bengal the administration of all civil 
cases ; but the Supreme Court declined to recog- 
nize this reservation ; and Mr. Hastings instituted 
a new court, the Sudder Dewani Adaulut^ and 



Clieyt Singh, 549 

committed the administration of it to Sir Elijah 
Impey. As the office and emoluments were held 
at the pleasure of the governor and council, it 
was supposed that the presiding officer would not 
admit the pretensions of ' the Supreme Court 
against the Dewani Adaulut, but would rather 
effect a reconciliation between them. These pro- 
ceedings were however, censured by the House of 
Commons, and Sir Elijah Impey was recalled to 
answer criminal charges. The governor made also 
important changes in the finance department ; and 
afterwards attempted to replenish the depleted 
treasury by very questionable measures. Extor- 
tion and violence done to the person of Cheyt 
Singh, the Rajah of Benares resulted in a popular 
outbreak, and despite the Rajah's offers of submis- 
sion, he was deposed from office, his treasure 
seized, a new ruler appointed, and the laws placed 
under the control of the company. Equally 
reprehensible was the course of the governor in 
regard to the nabob of Oudh, who being in arrears 
to the government, a new President was appointed, 
empowered to enforce payment, though the reve- 
nues of the nabob had been exhausted in the sup- 
port of the English troops forced upon him. By 



553 The JEngluTi Power, 

the connivance of the governor, and the atrocious 
complicity of the resident and nabob, two royal 
ladies of Lucknow who had inherited immense 
wealth, were seized and kept prisoners, until large 
sums had been extorted from them, in payment of 
the nabob's dues, and for the relief of the govern- 
ment treasmy. Hastings share in these proceed- 
ings was rewarded by a gift from the nabob of a 
hundred thousand pounds sterling which he asked 
the company's permission to accept, in pa3'ment 
for his services. 

The money thus obtained, supplied the means of 
prosecuting the war with renewed energy, and 
probably saved England her valuable Eastern 
Empire ; but such measures certainly did not win 
for Great Britain a throne in the affections of her 
Indian subjects, and probably paved the way for 
the troubles of later years. The power of Great 
Britain in India being now consolidated, and her 
authority recognized, several years of peace fol- 
lowed, during which Governor Hastings tendered 
his resignation, and in 1785 returned to England. 

Most unfavorable reports had from time to time 
reached Parliament concerning the peculation and 
oppression practised by the servants of the East 



Lord Cornwallis, 553 

India Company, and when a new governor had 
been appointed, Pitt, then Prime Minister, intro- 
duced and carried his " India Bill," which estab- 
lished a Board of Control, composed of six privy 
councilors chosen by the sovereign of Great Brit- 
ain, and empowered to hold in check, the more 
important functions of the company. Lord Corn- 
wallis was the governor appointed to succeed Mr. 
Hastings, and reached his post in September, 1786, 
the government having been administered in the 
interim, with great ability, by Mr. Macpherson, 
the Senior Member of the Council. The peace 
that smiled so propitiously on the advent of Lord 
Cornwallis, was soon broken and the horrors of 
civil war once more clouded the Indian atmos- 
phere. The restless, ambitious Tippoo was the 
first to begin trouble by an invasion of the territory 
of the Rajah of Travancore, an English ally ; but 
before they had time to interfere, the intrepidity of 
a small body of Nairs, had achieved a complete 
victory over the great army of Tippoo, who was 
hotl}^ pursued by the Nairs, and had difficulty in 
escaping with his life. This treacherous foe next 
renewed his attack more successfully, and on the 
7th of May 1790, captured the cit}^, and devastated 



554 The Bnglish Power, 

the surrounding country. This brought the forces 
of General Meadows from Madras, and those of 
General Abercromfeie from Bombay, both of whom 
penetrated far into the Mysore countrj^ ; but the 
campaign terminated in Tippoo's favor. The sec- 
ond campaign was conducted by Lord Cornwallis 
in person, who gained some decided advantages, 
but was compelled to suspend operations, by the 
advance of the season, and the increasing sickness 
among his troops. The third campaign opened by 
the capture of the two celebrated fortresses of 
Savendroog and Octadroog, followed by the reduc- 
tion of a strongly fortified camp of the Mysorean 
army of ten thousand men, with a large quantity 
of guns and stores. The fortress of Lamaga fell 
next in the hands of the English, and Tippoo sued 
for peace ; but the victorious army pushed on to 
lay siege to Seringapatam, which on the 7th of 
February, 1792, fell before this valiant onslaught 
of the English besiegers, Tippoo's loss amounting 
to over four thousand, and that of the English to 
five hundred and thirty-five. On the 24th, Tippoo 
signed a treaty, giving up one half his territories 
to the English, agreeing to pay all the expenses of 
the war, and leaving in the hands of his conquer- 



Wellington, 655 

ors, two of his sons as hostages for the performance 
of these stipulations. 

The charter of the East India Company was 
renewed in 1T93 ; and Lord Cornwallis retiring, 
was succeeded by Sir John Shore, as governor. 
The terms of the treaty having been fulfilled, the 
sons of Tippoo were delivered with due honors ; 
but Tippoo received the officer who accompanied 
them, with haughty reserve, and declined any 
further advances of the governor. 

Affairs in Oudh were again in an unsettled state, 
and those in the Carnatic looked still more un- 
promising, in the midst of which. Sir John Shore 
having been elevated to the peerage as Lord 
Teignmouth, sailed for England, and was suc- 
ceeded by Lord Mornington, May, 1798. Tippoo 
about this period sent officers to the Mauritius to 
form an alliance with the French, and to solicit 
aid to drive the English out of Southern India, 
offering also to pay handsomely for volunteers. 
War was accordingly declared against Tippoo, and 
preparations begun for the immediate commence- 
ment of aggressive movements. At Mallavely the 
first engagement occurred, Colonel Wellesley, after- 
ward the Great Duke of Wellington, commanding 



5^6 The English Power, 

the left wing. The English here achieved a great 
victory, and pushed forward to Serin gpatam, which 
was laid siege to, and taken by assault on the 4th 
of May. At one o'clock, Syed Goffhar, Tippoo's 
best general, was killed by a cannon ball ; and late 
in the evening, Tippoo's body was found where he 
had fallen, in the thickest of the fight, pierced by 
musket balls. The next day, his body was placed 
in the tomb of Hyder Ali, attended by the highest 
military honors ; and his family were taken under 
the protection of the English, and treated with 
the respect due to their exalted position. 

Thus ended the career of one of the most implac- 
able foes of the British race in India. His emblem, 
the one he liked best to emblazon on shields and 
flags, was a tiger, an appropriate emblem of his 
own savage disposition ; and he so delighted in 
these ferocious animals, that he kept numbers of 
them about his palace, and often made them the 
ministers of his vengeance. It is said that a favor- 
ite tov of his was the fiorure of a tio^er in the act 
of tearing a European to pieces ; and that by 
turning a crank, the machine was made to emit a 
dual sound, resembling the mingled growls of a 
tiger and the agonized groans of a dying man. 



Tippoo's Death. 55T 

His love of war seems to have grown out of a 
cruel delight in the miseries it occasions ; and he 
seems to have taken especial pleasure in exercising 
his ferocity upon such English prisoners as fell 
into his hands. Death by the sword was the most 
merciful fate that came to any so unfortunate as to 
be left to his disposal ; and " terrible atrocities 
were revealed when his death unloosed the tongues 
of his oppressed people." 

The death of the Sultan gave his country into 
the possession of the conquerors without any show 
of opposition ; and all the Mysorean strongholds 
were at once occupied by English troops. Colonel 
Wellesley was appointed governor of Mysore, and 
assumed the military charge of Seringapatam, 
governing with a union of moderation and firm- 
ness quite in contrast Avith the cruelty and capri- 
ciousness of the tyrant Tippoo, and soon restoring 
order throughout the province. 

The next event of most importance to be 
noticed in connection with Indian historj^ is the 
invasion, in 1795, and again in 1797, of Punjaub 
and Lahore, by Shah Zeman, the Afghan king who 
in the second instance, had succeeded in the occu- 
pation of Lahore, when he was prevented from 



558 The English Power. 

making farther advances by a rebellion in his own 
capital. A similar attempt was made the follow- 
ing year, when he again had to withdraw, to pro- 
tect his territory from an attack of the Persians ; 
and in 1801, he was deposed and imprisoned by 
his brother. 

At Benares, difficulties occurred in connection 
with the deposed Rajah of Oudh, whom it was 
proposed to remove to Calcutta, for greater safety. 
The resident and several other Englishmen were 
murdered in cold blood, when Vizir Ali fled, seek- 
ing protection from a Rajput chief, but he was 
afterward surrendered to the English. The gov- 
ernment of Oudh was shortly after, assumed by the 
company, and the court and family of the nabob 
provided for. After various difficulties with their 
respective governments, Surat, Tanjore, and the 
Carnatic were placed under British control ; and 
negotiations were opened with the Peishwa, who 
was nominally the Mahratta sovereign, though in 
reality both Holkar and Scindia exerted far more 
power and influence. Holkar's family had been 
for nearly a century, the acknowledged head of 
the northern states, but at this period, there arose 
a disagreement about the succession, that gave to 



Cruicowar of Baroda. 561 

Scindia, the pretext for interference, who declared 
Cashee Rao sovereign, and put Mulhar Rao to 
death, but retained a posthumous son of the latter, 
as a check on the uncle. But another claimant 
arose in the person of Holkar's illegitimate son 
whose first attempt was however, defeated near 
Indore, on the 14th of October, 1801. The next 
year, he again opposed the united forces of Scindia 
and the Peishwa, near Poonah, where, after a 
severe engagement, he obtained a decided victory. 
The terrified Peishwa took no part in the battle, 
and after its conclusion sent for the English resi- 
dent and offered to maintain six battalions of 
Seapoys, and yield twenty-five lacs of rupees out 
of his revenues for their support, in return for aid 
from the English ; and despite all that could be 
said to reassure him, he fled in an English ship to 
Bassein. Holkar also sent for the resident, and 
expressed a desire for his mediation and for an am- 
icable arrangement with Scindia and the Peishwa. 
The death of the Guicowar of Baroda in 1800, 
gave rise to disputes in that direction ; his son 
being an imbecile, and therefore inelligible, the 
choice lay between the prime minister, Nowjee 
Apajee, and an illegitimate brother of the deceased 



562 The English Power, 

sovereign. The English decided in favor of the 
minister, who was accordingly invested as sover- 
eign, and began his reign by dismissing a band of 
Arabs who had been in the service of the late 
Guicowar. These, however, refused to disband, 
and mutinying seized and imprisoned the Guicowar. 
The English immediately besieged Baroda which 
in ten days succumbed, and the mutineers were 
driven from Guzerat. 

After Bajee Rao's flight to Bassein, and the 
proclamation of Amrut Rao as Peishwa, the most 
violent excesses were pepetrated, and the English 
had again to interfere. The former Peishwa was 
restored to govern under English protection ; all 
Europeans hostile to the English were to be ban- 
ished from the territory, and all points of dispute 
between the Guicowar and Peishwa were to be 
submitted to the English for decision. Amrut 
Rao was also awarded a pension and a residence 
at Benares. This arrangement resulted in a re- 
newal of hostilities between the English, and the 
Mahrattas. General Lake was assigned command" 
in the north ; and Colonel Wellesley in the Deccan, 
where his first step was the redemption of the 
strong fort of Ahmednagur, and his next to pursue 



Battle of Assay e, 565 

the Mahrattas and bring them to a decisive action. 
The battle of Assaye, so famous in Indian history, 
took place on the 23rd of September, 1803, and 
was a most brilliant victory to the English, though 
with fearful loss on both sides. The city of 
Burhampore and the fort of Asseeghur were taken 
on the 24th while the Baroach fell into the hands of 
the Guzerat troops. At the north, General Lake 
took Alijurh, and then advanced upon Delhi, 
which was captured after great slaughter upon 
both sides, and the emperor Shah Alum delivered 
from the Mahratta captivity. Lake's next move was 
upon Agra, which before the outbreak, had been 
in the hands of Seapoy soldiers commanded by 
English officers. These had been seized, when hos- 
tilities began, and confined by their own men. 
Seven battalions of Scindia were taken by Lake, 
and then the garrison capitulated, allowing the 
captive officers to retire with their private effects. 
On the 1st of November occurred the battle of 
Laswarre, that destroyed the power of Scindia in 
Northern India ; and at the same time Bundel- 
cund was brought under English power. In the 
Deccan, the battles of Argoam, Nagpore, and 
others, resulted in the same way, with large acces- 



566 , The English Power, 

sions of territory to the English. New treachery 
on the part of Holkar, and constant plunder of his 
people, brought down the English again in that 
direction. On the 17th of November, Lake, in an 
engagement with Holkar, at Furruckabad, killed 
three thousand of his men, and ten days later 
Deeg was stormed and taken, leaving only Bhurt- 
pore as a refuge for Holkar. This was invested in 
January, 1805, but the Rajah suing for peace, it 
was granted on favorable terms. 

Col. Wellesley's policy from the first, had been 
to strip the natives of military power, thus giving 
the East India Company easy control of them. 
This he had now nearly accomplished, a very large 
portion of territory was either in the hands of the 
English, or under their " protection ; " the power 
of the Mahrattas, well named " The Great Power " 
was broken, and though not yet quite overthrown, 
was becoming rapidly under control. Still the in- 
domitable Lake pushed on after the retreating foe, 
nor paused till he had crossed the line of Alex- 
ander's conquests, and pitched his tents on the 
banks of the Hyphasis (the Beas) where in the 
long ago, the " Conqueror of the World" had en- 
camped. Yet he was not permitted to grasp the 



A Disastrous Treaty. 56T 

boon for which he had toiled and risked so much. 
When ahnost within sight of Holkar's retreat, he 
was directed by the acting governor, Sir George 
Barlow, to conclude a peace with the Mahratta 
chief, and he had no alternative but to submit. 
This treaty restored all his lost territory to. 
Holkar, broke off the English alliance with Jey- 
pore, and sent the army back to Delhi. 

This disgraceful treaty was destined to prove a 
failure, and ere long all the sad lessons of the last 
campaign with their losses and sufferings, were re- 
peated. We cannot in our limited space, follow 
all the details, but must touch on the leadinor 
events. After some new atrocities Holkar became 
insane, and remained so until his death in 1811, 
thus removing one obstacle to the peace of India. 
Meanwhile Lord Minto had succeeded to the office 
of governor. A statesman of great ability and in- 
dependence, he at once abandoned the non-interven- ' 
tion policy of Sir George Barlow, and determined 
upon protecting the innocent, but equally upon 
punishing the guilty cause of turmoil and violence. 
It was in the year 1808, that rumors began to 
spread, of the efforts of the Great Napoleon to 



568 The English Power, 

injure or jeopardize the Anglo-Indian cause, and 
of attempted complicity with the court of Persia. 
During the same year a number of French frigates 
sailed from various ports, to the great detriment 
of trade in the Indian Seas ; and Lord Minto pro- 
ceeded to deprive them of ports of refuge by at- 
tacking the islands of Bourbon, Mauritius and 
Java. The reduction of the first two was readily 
accomplished ; though in Java, garrison after garri- 
had to be taken before Jansen, the Dutch governor, 
would submit; but on the .16th of September, the 
island was given up to the English. The next 
source of trouble was the incursions of the 
Ghookas, a warlike race on the north-eastern 
frontier. These were finally reduced, but at the 
cost of much blood and treasure, as was also the 
expedition into Nepaul, in which these Ghoorkas 
bore a strong hand against the English. For, 
whether in the entrenched fortress of their own 
mountain ridges, or in their incursions into the 
surrounding countr}^, this was a brave and warlike 
race, not easil}' intimidated. lu February, 1816, 
proposals for peace having been made, to which 
the Nepaulese refused to accede, further aggressive 



The Mahrattas, 569 

measures were decided on, when tliey themselves 
sued for peace, and gladly accepted terms they had 
before refused. 

The British reverses at the beginning of this 
war, had given new impulse to their old enemies, 
the Mahrattas. Mr. Elphinstone, the resident at 
Poonah, made several attempts for an amicable 
arrangement, but was as often foiled by the 
Peishwa and his depraved minister Trimbuckjee, 
and various complications, especially with the 
Guicowar, until the English forced them to ac- 
cept either war or submission ; and Bajee Rao, the 
last of the Peishwas, on the 18th of June, 1817, 
reluctantly signed a treaty, renouncing his preten- 
sions as head of the Mahratta chiefs, and giving 
up to the English, besides the strong fortress of 
Ahmednagur, a considerable portion of other terri- 
tory. A supplementary treaty was arranged the 
following November, with the Guicowar, in which 
the Peishwa's claims were settled by the annual 
payment of four lacs of rupees (1200,000) and 
the English received as their share of the bargain, 
the city of Ahmedabad, the capital of Guzerat, 
and a place of large political importance. 



570 The English Power. 

Scindia failing in some stipulations he had made 
to furnish a contingent to act with the British, 
under a British officer, in the reduction of the 
Pindarries, and to allow the use of his forts of 
Assurghur and Scindia during the war, the Eng- 
lish eventually besieged and captured the fort, 
when evidences of Scindia's insincerity were found 
in his own writing. As a penalty the English 
demanded absolute cession of Assurghur, to be 
retained permanently in their keeping. The battle 
of Kirkee in November, 1817 was another brilliant 
victory to the English, as was also that of Naffpore, 
on the 26th of the same month. Chandore-Galna 
and Unktunky were occupied by British troops 
shortly after, and the war was virtually ended by 
the capture of Bajee Rae and Trimbukcee, both of 
whom remained prisoners for life, within the British 
lines, the former with the handsome pension of 
£80,000 or 1100,000 a year. Assurghur, after an 
obstinate defence, yielded on the 9th of April, 1819, 
and with its fall ended this famous Mahratta war. 
Early in 1822, Governor Hastings resigned, having 
filled this high office for nine years, during which 
the power of the Mahrattas and Pindarries had 



Hastings Reigns Again. 571 

been successfully broken, Scindia alone remaining, 
and he no longer a formidable foe : while the name 
and reputation of the East India Company had 
been widelj^ extended, and both trade and revenue 
were rapidly on the increase. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE ENGLISH POWER — BURMESE AND PUNJAUB 
WARS AND THE CONQUEST OF SCINDE. 

WITH the close of tlie administration of Gov- 
ernor Hastings ended the Mahratta war ; 
but with the advent of his successor, the Earl of 
Amherst, was ushered in another contest equally 
tedious and anno3'ing. The first Burmese war 
lasted two 3'ears, from 1824, to 1826, and ended in 
the cession of Assam and the Tenasserim Prov- 
inces, to the East India Company. It is not our 
purpose to trace the progress of this war, but 
merely to glance at its causes and results, and pass 
on to that which pertains strictly to the history of 
India. An old source of dissatisfaction had ex- 
isted between tlie governments of Burmah and 

572 



The Burmese War, 673 

British India from the year 1798, when some 
thirty thousand Mugs, a race inhabiting a section 
of Arracan, fled from Burmese tyrann}^, and took 
refuge in the British district of Chittagong, where 
they settled down in villages and towns, in various 
pursuits. Requisition had more than once been 
made by His Burmese Majesty, for the return of 
these " slaves " to their liege lord ; but as Eng- 
land does not recognize slavery, she declined to 
deliver up, nolens volens, these quiet, peaceable 
subjects of her empire. This was the old grudge 
entertained by " His golden-footed Majesty " 
against his " Cousins of England ; " but the im- 
mediate cause of hostilities was a dispute concern- 
ing the island of Shaporee, an unimportant tract 
at the entrance of Tek Nauf, the arm of the sea 
that divides Chittagong from Arracan. This the 
Burmese took forcible possession of, and pro- 
claimed it a part of their empire, besides doing 
violence to tlie small English garrison found, on 
the island. Other larger bodies of troops from 
Assam and Munnipore shortly crossed the frontier, 
and early in January 1824, Lord Amherst issued 
a " manifesto," preparatory to a formal declaration 
of war. This conflict lasted till February, 1826, 



574 The English Power, 

resulting in the annexation of the valuable prov- 
inces before named. 

The cause of the second breaking out of hostil- 
ities between the English and Burmese, was the 
maltreatment in the fort of Rangoon, of certain 
British merchant-captains, who were, at the instiga- 
tion of the native governor, subjected to spoliation 
and insult. The demand for apology and restitu- 
tion having been rejected, war was declared, hostil- 
ities beginning April 2nd 1852, and ending in 
December of the same year, by the annexation of 
the Province of Pegu. 

The temporary administration of Mr. Adams, 
pending the arrival of the newly-appointed gov- 
ernor, has been rendered somewhat notorious by 
the exercise of a power, that though vested in the 
government, had not hitherto been resorted to in 
the whole history of the Anglo-Indian Colonies. 
This was the " censorship of the press ; " and 
added to it, was the discretionary power of " ban- 
ishing from the company's territories any trouble- 
some or refractory editor.'* This power was 
exercised by Mr. Adams, against the editor of the 
Calcutta Journal^ who having published some 
strictures upon the acts of the executive, was noti' 




SOLDIERS OF THE NIZAM OF HYDERABAD. 



A Financial Failure. 577 

fied to quit the country within a few days. This 
despotic proceeding called forth much censure in 
England, but was sustained by the supreme gov- 
ernment. 

Another event of this period was the failure of 
the commercial firm of Palmer and Company, 
who, certainly with the cognizance, and probably 
with the approval of Governor Hastings, had for a 
series of years, contracted loans of money to the 
Nizam of the Deccan, amounting in the aggregate, 
to X 700,000 or 13,500,000. Some difEculty having 
arisen between the contracting parties, appeal was 
made to the governor-general, who declared the 
transaction illegal, and that the firm could recover 
nothing from the Nizam, the company having re- 
served to itself the sole right of entering upon 
monetary transactions with native powers. The 
result was the immediate insolvency of this large 
and wealthy house, and with them, of very many 
of the " Service," who had emplo3'ed Palmer and 
Company as' their bankers, and with whom were 
invested their entire fortunes. About this period, 
negotiations among the several European powers 
relative to Dutch settlements, captured during the 
late wars, was brought to a final issue, by the 



578 The English Power. 

British ceding to Holland, the islands of Sumatra 
Bencoolen, and retaining possession of Malacca 
and Singapore. The last, under the fostering care 
of Sir Stamford Raffles, rose rapidly to a commer- 
cial importance exceeding that of any other Anglo- 
oriental colony ; and is at the present day, with 
its salubrious climate, its wonderful development, 
and enormous trade, the very Queen of the Indian 
Seas. 

In 1827, previous to his departure for England, 
Lord Amherst made a tour of the upper provinces, 
and visited Delhi, for the express purpose of set- 
ting aside the merely nominal sovereignty of 
Akbar Shah, the last of the oriental monarchs of 
India. 

The administration of the successor of Lord 
Amherst began with the year 1828, and unlike 
any that had preceeded it. Lord William Bentich's 
term of office was marked by no great militar}^ ex- 
ploits ; the inroads of some petty hill-tribes, the 
deposition of the Rajah of Coorg, and some other 
unimportant regulations in regard to territory, 
being the only exceptions in this reign of peace. 
The new governor's attention was therefore given 
to internal improvements, and especially to needed 



Progress, 581 

reforms in the civil service. Many new privileges 
to the natives, were also secured to them, and 
among the most important, was an enactment 
freeing seceders from the Hindu or Mohammedan 
faith, within the Bengal Presidency, from all the 
penalties that under the old native laws, attached 
to such act, i. e. the forfeiture of all personal and 
family property and rights. Education, too re- 
•ceived a fresh impulse ; and to this day, many of 
the best educational enterprises of the country are 
associated with the name of this excellent gov- 
ernor. 

To this administration belono^s also the beojin- 
ning of steam communication to the Caspian Sea, 
and the great " overland route " from England to 
India. The former, having in view the extension 
of British commerce, and the ascertaining of the 
feasibility of Russian invasion from that quarter 
was entrusted to Lieutenant, afterwards. Sir Alex- 
ander Eurnes. To Lieutenant Waghorn belongs 
the fame of arranging and carrying to a successful 
termination the plan of overland communication 
between India and Great Britain, by way of the 
Red Sea, Egypt, and the Mediterranean. The 
navigation of the rivers, Ganges and Indus, by 



582 The English Power. 

steam-vessels was introduced about the same 
time. Railroads came later — the first opened in 
India, being that between Bombay and Tanna, 
April 6th 1853. 

The year 1833 was marked by several very im- 
portant clianges in the functions of the East India 
Company, among which, were the following : That 
the company should retain its political rights, and 
give its entire attention to the government of 
India ; that it should cease to be a commercial 
body, and should resign its monopolies of China 
and India, both being declared free to every 
British subject ; with sundry other regulations re- 
garding finance and dividends. 

In 1835, Lord William Bentich resigned his 
office of governor, on account of failing health, 
and returned to England. Lord Auckland was 
appointed his successor, and made his advent 
under most auspicious circumstances, the political 
horizon being without a cloud ; but he left it wrapped 
in gloom, with the horror of great darkness enshroud- 
ing the entire community. Shah Shujah, the im- 
becile ruler of Afghanistan had been recently 
expelled from his domain by his turbulent subjects, 
and had taken refuge in the British fortress of 



Afghan War, 583 

Ludiana. The Punjaub was under control of 
Runjet Singh, a man who for his valor and energy 
had been dubbed " The Lion of Lahore." His 
territory formed the barrier between Britisli India 
and Afghanistan, and was nearly always involved 
in turmoils with the turbulent Afghans. In 1837, 
a mission to Cabul was undertaken by Captain 
Burnes, bat was fruitful of no results; and a mis- 
sion to the Punjaub, while courteously received, 
accomplished nothing. Lord Auckland at once 
decided to declare war against Dost Mohammed, 
the Afghan usurper, restore the deposed monarch 
to his rights, with the ultimatum of annexing both 
Afghanistan and the Punjaub, to the company's 
possessions, or helping their rulers to govern under 
" British protection." In October, 1838, war was 
declared, and by the end of the year, the Bengal 
and Bombay troops were already massed at the 
appointed rendezvous, Shikapore in Scinde. From 
the very outset it was a campaign, rife with dis- 
asters ; cholera, insufficient means of transport, 
and lack of needed stores, but prepared the way 
for other and far greater sufferings. When they 
had only reached the foot of the Western moun- 
tains, provisions were so short that the allowance 



584 The English Power, 

to the troops was reduced one half, and many of 
the camp followers, of whom there are said to 
have been one hundred thousand at the outset, 
were compelled to subsist on roots and herbs. On 
the 20th of May, when Candahar was reached the 
hundred thousand had been reduced to twenty 
thousand. Ghazni and Cabul were stormed and 
taken, and both occupied by British troops, who 
though badly supplied with provisions and other 
necessaries, they managed to live through the first 
winter with comparatively little suffering. But 
with the opening spring, marauding parties poured 
in upon them from every quarter, shooting down 
stragglers, cutting off supplies, and harrassing the 
troops in every possible way. Dost Mohammed 
had given himself up to the British envoy and 
with his numerous family had- been sent beyond 
the frontier; but Akbar Khan, his "fighting son " 
went everywhere rousing the people to resistance 
of the invaders, and leading large bodies against 
them, continually diminishing their numbers, and 
destroying all hope of success. Thus the months 
wore awaj^, till the 2nd of November, 1841, ush- 
ered in a general uprising of the people of Cabul, 
and from that fatal morning, all the horrors of that 



Massacre at Oahul. 687 

terrible storm burst upon the defenceless victims. 
Burnes, with every officer, woman and child found 
with him in the city, was massacred, the forces at 
Jelialabad were closely besieged with their small 
and ill-provided garrisons while Candahar and 
Ghazni were threatened. At this point it was 
arranged between the British envoy and Akbar 
Khan, that the British army should evacuate 
Afghanistan and be guaranteed safe passage to 
India, and a supply of provisions. But at the last 
conference, while conversing with the chief, the 
British envoy was killed by a pistol shot, said to 
have been fired by the treacherous Akbar. On 
the 6th of January, 1842, the humiliating retreat 
began, and no sooner had they cleared the city, 
than parties of armed Afghans attacked them at 
intervals all along the route, that was tracked day 
and night by the dying and dead soldiers. Such 
was the severity of the weather, and the horrible 
suffering of the weary travellers, that " first their 
wounded, and then their women and children were 
given up to the Afghans as the only hope of saving 
them, till finally giving up all hope of escape, 
hundreds lay down to die on the snow, or fell in 
the rear and were shot down by Afghan bullets. 



688 The English Power, 

Gradually the parties that attacked them became 
larger, and the work of slaughter sped more 
rapidly, until of all that host of twenty-six thous- 
and who began the disastrous retreat, but one 
Englishman, Dr. Brydon and a few Seapoys and 
followers, escaped with the terrible tidings to 
Jellalabad, where the gallant Sale still held his 
position."* 

Whilst this was occurring hundreds of other 
officers, women and children were lingering out a 
terrible captivity in Afghan dungeons, from which 
few lived to escape. The troops of Akbar contin- 
ued to harass every port where there were English 
in possession. Candahar and Jellalabad held out 
until relief came, but at Ghazni, Palmer had to 
yield, and every man, woman and child was 
butchered in cold blood. It was August before 
any combined movement of English troops could 
be made to rescue the captives ; and then the 
Khoord and Kyber Passes had to be passed before 
safety could be assured. When the last dangers 
were over, and those who yet lived had been 
rescued, a terrible vengeance was taken on the 
Afghans, by the now victorious troops, sent to the 

* Malcolm's " Indian Mutiny." 



Vengeance and Peace, 689 

help of their unfortunate countrymen ; thousands 
of skeletons were gathered up from the roads liter- 
ally strewed with these sad memorials; and the 
citadel, forts and every building of any strength 
in the capital were destroyed ere the army again 
crossed the Indus, on their homeward march. 

The winter of 1843, was marked by fresh re- 
volts on the part of the Ameers of Scinde. An 
expedition commanded by Sir Charles Napier Avas 
sent against them, and after most desperate fight- 
ing, they were subdued, and their territory annexed 
to the company's territories. 

Lord Auckland had meantime been recalled, 
and Lord Ellenborough sent out in his place ; and 
it was under his vigorous management that the 
Afghan disasters were in a measure retrieved, and 
subsequent victories gained, not the least of which 
was the pacification of Gwalior, and the permanent 
occupation of its grand old fortress. 

Li the Punjaub, new conquests awaited the 
British arms, not achieved however, without 
large expenditures of blood and treasure. A more 
complete and effectual overthrow, it would be diffi- 
cult to conceive, than that which, on the 21st of 
February, 1849, was meted out to the Seikh force 



590 The English Power. 

before Guzerat. For three hours the deadly fire 
of artillery did its work, and then the whole force 
of the British infantry and cavalry being let loose 
upon the enemy, the bayonet, lance, and sword 
accomplished the rest of the bloody task. The 
principal chiefs made an unconditional surrender, 
the Afghans fled across the Indus, the Seikh forces 
were disbanded, and the Punjaub was declared " an- 
nexed to the British territories of India." 

When, after the conclusion of the second Burmese 
war before spoken of, peace was again established, in 
1853 other changes were made in the company's 
charter. The number of directors chosen by the 
stock-holders was reduced to twelve, in addition to 
whom six were to be appointed by the crown, who 
must have resided at least ten years in India. 
They were no longer to hold the civil patronage of 
the court, and nominations to the Indian civil 
service, were thrown open to competition. The 
local government of Bengal was placed in the 
hands of a lieutenant-governor ; and the Legis- 
lative Council was separated from the Supreme 
Council, greatly to the benefit of both. 

In 1856, Lord Dalhousie retired from the guber- 
natorial office. Among the benefits of Lord Dalhou- 



Dalhousie^s Administration, 593 

sie's brilliant administration, should be mentioned 
the introduction of the uniform, low-rate postage 
throughout the vast empire, and the opening of 
several new lines of railway — one line of a hun- 
dred and twenty miles, from Calcutta to Rane- 
gunge, a second line from Bombay to Wasindra, of 
fifty-one miles, and a third of fifty miles in the 
Madras Presidency, were all monuments of the 
wise policy of an able administrator. But the 
crowning glory that reflects most honor on a noble 
name, was the opening, on the 8th of April, 1854, 
of the main stream of the Ganges canal, for a 
distance of five hundred and twenty miles, which 
subsequently, when completed, reached a total 
length, including the branches, of about nine hun- 
dred miles, irrigating an area of one million four 
hundred and seventy thousand acres ; and crown- 
ing with the richest verdure, whole tracts of other- 
wise barren and worthless land. After eight years 
triumph in war, and the exercise of enlightened 
statesmanship, he handed over to his successor, 
Viscount Canning, an immense empire, in the en- 
joyment of external peace, and internal prosperity. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE SEAPOY EEBELLION — INDIA OF THE 
PEESENT. 

IT was in the year 1746, that native troops were 
first trained to European tactics, by the 
French, at the siege of Cudalore. The English 
Seapoy Service was begun in 1757, being just a 
centur}^ old at the time of the great rebellion. 
After the " Black Hole " tragedy had been 
avenged, and peace was again restored, Ihe first 
battalion of Bengal Seapoys was raised, their offi- 
cers being supplied from a detachment that had 
accompanied Lord Clive from Madras. Upon the 
foundation then laid, the vast superstructure ot 
the existing native army of India, has been grad- 
ually raised, and the system perfected by officers, 
who have led these armies from triumph to triumph 

594 



The Seapoy Service. 597 

until the British flag floats victoriously over the 
strongholds of the most powerful native princes of 
India. Thus England governs India with Hindu 
soldiers; and subdues new provinces with levies 
on those already united to the empire. And the 
Hindu fights bravely beside the Briton, laying 
down his life to increase the power of the flag 
under which he has enlisted. On the military 
parade grounds, the manoeuvres of the native 
troops show great aptitude in learning the tactics 
of the service ; and freshly-arrived cadets who are 
hereafter to serve as officers in the army of India, 
are often drilled by grave, dignified, and noble- 
looking native Suhahdars. 

In the Seapoy Service, each battalion has one 
European commanding ofiicer, with lieutenants 
and ensigns, who act as field officers, besides a 
native commander and adjutant, one Suhahdar and 
three Jemidars to each company. A company is 
composed of seventy Seapoys, under the direction 
of five Havildars and four Naiks ; two drummers 
and one trumpeter being supplied to each company, 
who also carry colors bearing the device of the 
Suhahdar. 

An unfortunate recognition of the privileges of 



598 The Seapoy Rebellion. 

caste, by the Anglo-Indian Government, in the 
outset, gave rise at a later period, to many evils 
and inconveniences. Instead of an equality of 
wages and perquisites to all native officers and 
soldiers of the same grade in the army, the 
Brahmin Seapoy, because he belongs to a class 
that claims superiority, and with whom the mili- 
tary profession is second in honor only to that of a 
priest, has from the beginning of the Seapoy ser- 
vice, been allowed higher pay, and many more 
comforts and immunities than the farmer or 
mechanic. Both in field and cantonment, he has 
been treated b}^ his English employer, not only as 
equal, but in many respects as the superior of the 
European soldier in the same service. Frequent 
furloughs on high days and festivals were allowed 
them ; and the fear of interfering with their relig- 
ious scruples, has led to concessions and indulgen- 
ces that came to be looked upon as matters of 
right, to the serious obstruction of military duty, 
and the too lax enforcement of proper discipline. 
Instead of being taught that prominence and pro- 
motion were due to superior ability and soldierly 
qualities, they were allowed to claim them by 
seniority and the absurd distinctions of caste. 



Caste the Cause of the Rehellion. 601 

Thus tliey retained the power of dictation in their 
own hands, and escaped many of the hardships of 
the service. Officers in charge of companies had 
httle power to reward or punish their own men, 
some caste regulation being always the outcry, 
when a point Avas to be gained. In cases of mu- 
tiny, though the cause might occasionally be a 
question of pay or provisions ; by far the most 
frequent and formidable ground of complaint has 
been a suspicion of meditated interference with 
the privileges of caste. 

Among the immediate causes of the great rebell- 
ion,* this stands forth as one of the most promi- 
nent of all, especially in the case of the cartridges, 
where the Bi-ahmins were informed hj one who 
professed to have heard it at headquarters, that 
"presently. Brahmins as well as Soudras would 
have to bite cartridges covered with the fat of 
cows and pigs" — the former the most sacred of 
all animals, the latter an object of hatred and 
abhorrence to the Hindu, neither of which he 
may taste or handle, without loss of caste. In 
this case, intelligence of the facts, fortunately 

*See Bj'iiish India, an article by Charles Creighton Hazwell in the Atlantic 
Monthly for November, 1S57, and ^^^^ Indian Revolt, ■a.w article in the same 
magazine for December 1857 by Mr, Charles Eliot Norton. 



602 The Seapoy Rebellion. 

came to the knowledge of the European officer in 
command, who immediately had all the native 
troops paraded before him, and asked if they had 
any complaint to make. Promptly and respect- 
fully, all the native officers, and many of the men 
stepped to the front, and through one of their 
number, stated their fears, and begged that some 
substitute should be used in making up the car- 
tridges, by which their loss of caste would not be 
hazarded. The matter was at once reported to 
General Hearsey, and the desired concession made 
by order of government. Unobjectionable ingredi- 
ents for greasing the cartridges were obtained from 
the bazaar, and the men were allowed to make 
them up in their own quarters, that they might be 
satisfied there was no desire on the part of their 
officers to interfere with their faith or practice. It 
is a note-worthy fact, that during the entire rebell- 
ion, this regiment gave their officers no trouble, 
but remained true to the end, to the flag under 
which they had enlisted. 

Another of the immediate causes of the mutiny, 
was undoubtedly, the action taken with regard to 
the titular dignity of the royal House of Delhi. 
On the death of the heir-apparent in 1849, the 



The Dynasty of Timour, 603 

Court of Directors had authorized Lord Dalhonsie 
to " terminate the dynasty of Timour, whenever 
the reigning king should die." To alleviate the 
unpleasantness of this, the Governor had ventured 
on a compromise agreeing to recognize the king's 
grandson, as heir-apparent, on condition that the 
family should quit the fortress of Delhi, for the 
royal palace of Kootub. The royal household 
were powerless to dispute the point ; but they felt 
sorely humiliated ; and for many a day, the " in- 
sult " was brooded over by the Delhi Moham- 
medans, who were ready, at the first outbreak to 
avenge their grievance by joining the malcontents. 
Among the remote causes of the mutiny, was the 
vague impression cherished alike by Hindus and 
Mohammedans, that ultimately the system of 
castes was to be abolished, and a foreign religion 
to be forced upon all the races of the empire. 
Coexistent with this, was the very natural aversion 
the people of this ancient empire entertained to 
being ruled over by a race of foreigners for whom 
they had no special liking, and of whom they had 
not even heard, until wdthin a few hundred years. 
On these several points, the races of India were 
sufficiently of one mind to be mutual helpers 



604 The Seapoy Rebellion, 

when the clay of trouble came, and to join shoulder 
to shoulder in a mighty effort to expel the foreign 
intruders from the entire peninsula. 

The first positive outbreak began at Berhampore 
in the district of Moorshedabad, about a hundred 
miles from Calcutta, on the 25th of February, 
1857, by a portion of the 19th native regiment 
who refused to accept the objectionable cartridges, 
and afterwards declined to lay down their arms 
when ordered to do so, until certain conditions of 
their own had been complied with. 

The spirit of mutiny made its next appearance 
in Vizianagram in the Madras Presidency, where 
on the 28th of February, the 1st Madras Regiment 
was under orders to march for Knrnool, without 
their families. This, the men positively refused to 
do ; and when their colonel ventured to remon- 
strate, he was met by shouts of defiance and ridi- 
cule. There being no force at hand to compel 
obedience the point was yielded ; probably render- 
ing it thereby, more difficult to subdue the next 
revolt. On the morning of the 31st of March the 
19th Regiment was disbanded, and the men 
marched to Chinsura and there ordered to disperse 
which they did with sullen and defiant air, to 



Another Grievance. 605 

scatter far and wide, the germs of treason and re- 
volt. The disbanding of a regiment, is in India a 
very weighty penalty, since every officer thereby 
looses his position, and every Seapoy his pension ; 
and as recruits for the Indian army are not re- 
ceived after a certain age, those who have attained 
it, or are Brahmins of high caste are deprived of 
the means of earning a livelihood, as they have no 
choice of labor but to remain soldiers. In April, 
indications of revolt began to appear in Lucknow, 
the capital of Oudh ; where, in addition to the 
cartridge trouble the Seapoy s had a private griev- 
ance of their own. An English physician, wishing 
to be sure that the medicine he had prescribed for 
a Brahmin patient, was properl}^ prepared, put the 
bottle to his own lips to taste the mixture before 
handing it over to the sick man. This kindly- 
meant action was construed into an attempt to 
break down the distinctive barriers of caste, and 
was repaid by the immediate burning down of the 
doctor's bungalow,by the Seapo}- s of the regiment. 
Nightly meetings took place, the men looked dark 
and defiant, and conflagrations were becoming very 
frequent. At this juncture, the British Resident, 
Sir Henry Lawrence, telegraphed the governor- 



606 The Seapoy Rebellion, 

general, " I want unlimited powers ; I will not 
abuse tliem ; " and in five minutes he received the 
desired grant. This power he used in promptly 
putting down such mutinous demonstrations as 
had been made, and order was quickly restored 
without violence on either side, after which, great 
pains was taken by Sir Henry to remove all cause 
of discontent, by explanations and conciliatory 
treatment. 

At Meerut in the Doab, the manifestations were 
of the most threatening character. The Bombay 
Times of the first week in May, represented the 
whole country, from Calcutta to Lahore, as " either 
in open mutiny, or upon the verge of it." A plan 
was discovered for the simultaneous uprising of 
Meerut, Lahore, and other cities of the Punjaub, 
after which the rebels were to fall back upon 
Delhi, and make it the base of operations in the 
Hindu empire, which was to be there established, 
by the utter extermination of the whole European 
army and population throughout India. This 
barbarous programme failed in part, from a lack 
of reciprocity among the leaders ; but enough was 
carried out to render one speechless with horror. 
Infants were snatched from their mothers' arms 



Butchery at Delhi. 609 

and murdered before their ejes. Older children 
were compelled to look on while one or both par- 
ents were cruelly butchered, and in some instances 
were made to drink their blood ; neither age, sex 
nor condition was spared, soldiers and civilians 
shared the same fate ; and only when the curtains 
of night closed around those scenes of terror and 
of blood, did the fearful tragedy cease — to be 
recommenced on the coming day, in the neighbor- 
ing city of Delhi, where by a forced march of 
more than thirty miles, the mutineers arrived by 
8 A. M. Monday, May the 11th. 

Delhi being garrisoned only by native troops, 
the mutineers from Meerut, found ready sympathy. 
Several of the officers were killed while seeking 
to restrain their men from taking part in the 
scenes of blood ; and soon the whole native force 
of the city was engaged in murdering the 
European residents. Some sought the citadel, 
brought forth the king, and after representing to 
him that the whole country was in revolt, and the 
hated foreigners to be driven from the kingdom or 
thrown into the sea, insisted on proclaiming 
him emperor, and after firing a salute of twenty- 
one guns, rushed from the palace gates, to 



610 The Seapoy Rebellion. 

carry out their plans of treachery and blood. 
Captain Douglass, the commandant of the guard 
of the titular king, was the first victim ; the Chap- 
lain of the Residency and his lovely young daugh- 
ter of nineteen, the next, with such aggravation of 
suffering as cannot here be detailed ; and others, 
men, women and children were slaughtered by 
wholesale. The whole city was now in arms ; and 
every house in which it was thought a European 
had resided, was ransacked from cellar to garret. 
The purpose of the soldiers was murder, that of 
the rabble, plunder; nor did the houses and shops 
of wealthy natives escape, many of these being 
sacrificed by the blood-thirsty mob, without appar-. 
ent reason, while they were glutting their fierce 
hatred of the foreigners. They next plundered 
the government treasuries, destroyed the English 
church, and utterly demolished the premises of 
the Delhi Grazette^ throwing the presses into the 
river, and melting the type into slugs. The em- 
ployees of the office, attempted to escape in the 
disguise of natives, but being detected, they 
were literally hacked to pieces. Next to 
their thirst for blood, was the desire to possess 
themselves of the treasure deposited in the Delhi 



Pandemonium, 611 

Bank. The manager in charge, Mr. Beresford, 
with his wife and five children liad their throats 
severed and mangled w^ith broken glass. No 
mercy was show^n to age or sex. Delicate women, 
mothers and young daughters were stripped of 
their clothing, wantonly abused, and turned naked 
into the streets, beaten with canes, pelted with 
filth, and abandoned to the beastly lusts of the 
rabble, until death or madness ended their misery. 
A party consisting of eight gentlemen, eight 
ladies, and eleven children, had found a temporary 
refuge in a mosque ; but being without food and 
and water, they gave themselves up, and were 
promised safety. But instead, the}^ were placed in 
a row, and all shot. One lady entreated a Seapoy 
to give her child some water, though they killed 
her. For answer to the poor mother's appeal, 
the wretch snatched the child from her arms, and 
dashed out its brains on the pavement, before her 
face. Such was the demoniac fury of the excited 
mob, that " before noon of Monday, the 11th of 
May, the interior of Delhi was a pandemonium 
that fiends might have shuddered to contemplate." 
Every effort was made to save the magazine, but 

* Malcolm's " Indian Mutiny." 



612 The Seapoy Rebellion, 

witliout avail. A little garrison of seven brave 
men, commanded by Lieutenant Willoughby, made 
a gallant defence, till finding that the enormous 
quantities of ammunition and stores must inevita- 
bly fall into the enemies' hands, the building was 
blown up, by these magnanimous defenders, who 
all, with the solitary exception of Lieutenant 
Willoughby perished in the explosion ; while from 
one thousand five hundred to tv/o thousand of the 
mutineers and rabble are believed to have been 
blown up with the magazine, or crushed in the 
fallings ruins. This so exasperated the great army 
of mutineers, who had been eagerly hoping to get 
possession of the stores and ' ammunition, that 
several of the leaders, rushed to the palace, and 
demanded of the king, the immediate surrender of all 
the Europeans, who under his promise of protec- 
tion, had taken refuge there. The timid and vas- 
cillating monarch durst not refuse, and these un- 
fortunate victims of royal perfidj^, were murdered 
in cold blood, 

Similar scenes to those just described were en- 
acted at various other points. From Ferozepore to 
the Deccan, the country was ripe with revolt ; at 
Baroach, the Parsees, a quiet, energetic, kindly 



WJiolesale Murder, 615 

race, were the special objects of vengeance. Their 
high priest was murdered at the altar, their fine 
temple desecrated, their women insulted, and peo- 
ple of all grades cruelly butchered ; at Allahabad, 
the carnage was frightful, attended in many in- 
stances by the most fiendish cruelty ; one family 
cousisting of three generations was burned to 
death, not one being spared, from the hoary grand- 
sire to the prattling infant ; noses, lips, ears, fingers 
and toes of men and women were slowly chopped 
off, and the bodies deliberately dashed to death ; 
while little infants were torn from their mothers' 
arms, and tlieir tender limbs chopped off with 
tulwars yet reeking with their father's blood. More 
that fifty Europeans were murdered in tlie first 
outbreak ; and a merciless death was the least of 
the cruelties practiced on many of the female 
victims. 

At Jhansie, the wholesale murder was attended 
by many scenes of frightful and most revolting 
cruelty ; Lucknow, Agra, other cities shared a like 
fate ; while at Cawnpore only the women and 
children of all the garrison survived the frightful 
massacre ; and these were all foully murdered by 
the cruel tyrant, Nana Sahib, the day before General 



616 The Seapoy Rehellion. 

Havelock reached the city, and their bodies, the 
dead and dying, flung into a well in the courtyard 
of the assembly rooms. But enough has been 
written of these horrible details of blood and 
agony, and death. At fir.^t, the uprising was so 
sudden and general, and the horror felt at the enormi- 
ties committed, so completely paralyzing, that little 
could be done towards quelling the great revolt, 
while each day added to the difficulties and dan- 
gers of the position. Then from every place came 
sympathy and aid for the sufferers, with vows of ter- 
rible vengeance. The Governor General dispatched 
a vessel to Ceylon to intercept the troops that had 
been ordered to China, in support of Lord Elgin's 
mission. At Lucknow, Sir Henry Lawrence at- 
tacked and defeated a large body of the mutineers ; 
but was soon after besieged in the residency, 
which he gallantly defended against overwhelming 
numbers, until he was mortally wounded in a rally, 
and the heroic little band had to retire to a smaller' 
post. In England, men and money and stores 
were volunteered on all sides, to meet this terrible 
emergency. By the middle of October, <£ 150,000 
had been subscribed for the relief of the sufferers , 
and within three months after the news of the 



England Alarmed. 617 

Meerut revolt first reached England, more than 
tWrty thousand excellent troops had already left 
the British shores ; and regiment after regiment 
continued to be dispatched in the same direction. 
Within forty-eight hours after the announcement 
of General Anson's death, Sir Collin Campbell 
was on his way to assume the chief command ; but 
even before he had reached the field, victory was 
already beginning to declare in favor of the Eng- 
lish. General Havelock, taking command of sev- 
eral regiments at Allahabad, set out with all speed 
hoping to reach Cawnpore, in time to rescue Sir 
Hugh Wheeler, and his brave companions. But 
after marching one hundred and twenty-six miles, 
fighting four actions, and capturing many guns, in 
eight days in the worst season of that Indian cli- 
mate, he was yet too late to avert the terrible 
catastrophe. On the banks of the Ganges, he for 
the eighth time defeated the enemy, and captured 
his guns ; and the 15th of August he marched out 
from Cawnpore, and again drove them from Bhitoor. 
On the 19th of September, he marched with a 
large reinforcement, to the relief of Lucknow, and 
on the 21st occurred the great battle of Mungarwar^ 
resulting in the total defeat of the rebels. 



618 The Seapoy Rebellion, 

Delhi was taken in September, and occnpied, 
this being regarded as a virtual closing of the re- 
bellion ; but many a hard fought battle had yet to 
be lost and won, ere permanent peace again spread 
its balmy wings over this distracted country. 

In November, a vigorous attack was made by 
Sir Collin Campbell, on Lucknow, and after sev- 
eral brilliant victories, by dint of a well executed 
ruse on the night of the 22d he silently decamped, 
taking with him his whole force, the relieved garri- 
son, a thousand women and children, and all valua- 
ble "stores. 

On the 3d of February 1858, Fort Sawyer on 
the Nerbudda, was relieved by Sir Hugh E,ose. 
Here four hundred Europeans, of whom nearly 
half were women and children, had been shut up 
for seven months. On the 17th the almost impreg- 
nable stronghold of Rhotosgur was captured ; on 
the 19th of March the last post of the mutineers 
in Lucknow fell before the English; the conquest 
of Jhansie followed in April, and other victories 
and successes soon after, and before the close of 
the year, this terrible mutiny was over. 

Quite in contrast with the scenes we have been 
describing, was the brilliant reception of the Prince 



The Prince of Wales. 621 

of Wales in his recent tour over this same ground, 
during the years of 1875-'76 ; and the cordial 
affection and loyalty every where manifested toward 
him, throughout the Indian Empire. 

Yet the same races, many of the same people, 
were actors in both ; with the interval of only 
about seventeen years between the two events. 
But they have been ^'ears of growth to the rulers 
and the ruled ; in which both have learned to un- 
derstand each other better, and the relative position 
and acquirements of the two countries, and their 
respective inhabitants. Both probably learned wis- 
dom by the sad experiences of those troublous 
years of war and bloody reprisal, and the later 
years of comparative tranquillity and prosperity, as 
contrasted with the former, have surely inculcated 
the lesson that peace is better than war. 

Yet in the autumn of 1878, and during the early 
months of the present year, another war cloud has 
darkened the Indian horizon. The English mind, 
always keenly susceptible of alarm, in regard to 
the invasion of her Indian Empire ; and subject to 
what may be called periodic visitations of fear ; 
has for years past been kept in a " chronic state of 
unrest" by the occasional movements of Russia, 



622 The Seapoy Rehellion. 

tending apparently toward the Indian frontier. 
Such was doubtless the origin of Lord Auckland's 
unfortunate invasion of Afghanistan in 1838, that 
ended so disastrously for the English colonies of 
India. This same desire to secure possession of 
the Afghan Passes, as a wall of security against 
Russian invasion, led the " British Mission to the 
Ameer's Court," of one year ago. But the Mis- 
sion met with a repulse — the Embassador be- 
ing prevented by force from entering the coun- 
try ; and this repulse occasioned intense excitement 
throughout India. The Bombay Times of that 
period, reports a special meeting of the Viceroy's 
Council, held at Simla, and also that General Rob- 
erts had started for Peshawur, with secret orders. A 
large force was ordered to be in readiness on the 
frontier, where twelve thousand men had been 
already massed. 

The Times of India of September 25th said: 
" The Mission to Cabul has already become trans- 
formed into an expedition, or, as it would seem, 
into three expeditions, which will start from differ- 
ent bases. One column, variously estimated at 
six thousand to eight thousand men, is to assemble 
at Moulton. All these except one regiment are 



The Afghan Campaign. 625 

Europeans. Thej assemble at Moultan, for the 
purpose of marching right across to Quetta, and 
consternating \_sic\ Shere Ali, in the south. Another 
column of six thousand is being assembled in tho 
Koorum Valley, and will be moved to KohaC 
General Roberts himself is in command of thiu 
column, which is obviously intended to marjb 
through the Kohat Pass, and turn the flank of the 
Khyber Pass, so as to facilitate the entrance, 
through that dangerous channel, of a third columi^. 
which appears to be in active preparation. In this 
way, in a few days — indeed we are told, the 
troops are expected to march in three days time — 
the three important passes of Bolan, Kohat, and 
Khyber will be occupied, and this summary measr 
ure may not improbably, bring the Ameer to his 
senses." 

A proclamation of the Viceroy of India r*^- 
counts the history of the relations between India 
and Afghanistan, during the last ten years. It 
says: "In return for the kindness of our acts 
and intentions, as witnessed by the Ameer's recep- 
tion at Umballa, by the material aid we afforded, 
to him from time to time, and by the free commerce 
with India, accorded" to the Afghans, we gained 



626 The Seapoy Rebellion, 

only ill-will and discourtesy. The Ameer openly 
and assiduously attempted, by words and deeds, 
to stir up religious hatred, and bring about a war 
upon the British Empire in India, and although he 
had repelled all efforts for amicable intercourse by 
the. Indian Government, he formally received a 
Russian Embassy, and finall}^ while the Russian 
Mission was still at Gabul, he forcibly repulsed the 
English envoy, whose coming had been duly noti- 
fied to him, and met our attempts to promote 
friendly relations, with open indignity and defiance. 

It looks somewhat significant that the Russian 
Czar, through General Kaufman, should, just at this 
juncture, present the Ameer with a costly sword, on 
the blade of which is the following inscription, in 
the Persian tongue : " May God give the victory 
over the infidels." 

The advance of the British army in Afghanistan, 
was steady and successfid. Shere Ali, the Afghan 
Ameer, fled from the country; leaving his son 
Yakoob Khan, in control of the government. Pre- 
vious to this, during the month of November, the 
British ultimatum requiring the withdrawal of the 
Russian Embassy, and that the Ameer enters into 
no Russian alliance — was handed to the Afghan 



Terms of Peace. 627 

commander at Ali Musjid, and a copy was sent bv 
post, to the Ameer. In reply, the Ameer declared 
himself bound by no Russian alliance, and that he 
was at liberty to make any new treaty he might 
find' desirable. 

The British victories were so dedided that 
Yakoob Khan was obliged to sue for peace, and to 
accept it on the Viceroy's own terms, i. e. Jellalabad 
and Candahar were to be evacuated, and given 
back to the Afghans ; the famous Khyber Pass to 
become an Anglo-Indian out-post ; the Khurmur 
and Khost Valleys to be converted into Indian- 
graneries; and an intrenched camp to be estab- 
lished Mdthin four days march of the Ameer's cap- 
ital ; while the main gateway in the mountains, 
between Quettah and Candahar, was to be fortified 
and garrisoned. These accessions of territory af- 
ford satisfactory evidence that this well planned 
and boldly executed campaign was not in vain ; 
the conquerors having made peace on their own 
terms, and accomplished all they sought to do. 
The Russian intrigue at Cabul has been brought to 
naught ; while Great Britain has acquired increased 
prestige as an Oriental Power, besides having had 
ascendency restored in the neutral zone, between 



628 The Seapoy Rehellion. 

India and Turkistan as a " scientific frontier," 
probably, not unacceptable even to Lord Beacons- 
field. 

Since the transfer in 1858, of the powers of the 
British East India Company, to the Crown, there 
]ias been a steady increase of territory, prosperity, 
and commercial influence ; and to-day, the Anglo- 
Indian empire has "lengthened its cords and ex- 
tended its stakes," beyond the bounds of any 
former period of its existence. The more thorough 
knowledge the governed and governing races now 
seek and acquire of each other, is an omen for 
good, as is also the higher education, and increased 

social influence of woman. But the most cheer- 
ing symptom of the future good government 
of India, is the increased disposition of British rulers 
to associate natives of character and ability with 
themselves, in high offices of administration. Par- 
liament, so long ago as 1833, laid down the princi- 
ple that " no native shall, by reason of his religion, 
place of birth, or color, be disabled from holding 
office." The Queen of England also, in 1858, 
proclaimed her will, that " so far as may be, our 
subjects of whatever race or creed, be impartially 
admitted to offices in our service, the duties of 



Growth and Progress, 631 

which they may be qualified by their educa- 
tion, ability, and integrity, duly to discharge." It 
is said upon high authority, that Lord Cranbrook 
has earnestly taken up the proposals of the present 
viceroy, to remove former disabilities and objec- 
tions ; and that he has already sent out a dispatch 
to India, that will alike meet the aspirations of 
educated natives, and strengthen the foundations 
of British Government in the east. That there 
are abuses and defects, things to be deplored, and 
some hard to be borne, cannot be denied ; but 
there is growth, real, unquestionable progress, 
despite these defects ; and the former serf is grad- 
ually being developed into a freeman, with such 
aspirations, and aims, and longings as past genera- 
tions never dreamed of, even in that grand old 
empire. 



EXPLANATION OF INDIAN TERMS. 

Abad. An abiding place. It is used in composition as the 
terminal appellation of many cities : Allahabad, the abode 
of God; Ahmedabad, the city of Ahmed. It also means 
fertile. 

Anna. Copper money, representing the eighth part of an Eng- 
lish shilling, or of a half-rupee. 

Ayah. Nurse, lady's maid, female servant. 

Bagh. A garden. 

Bahadoiir. Brave, a title of nobility 

Bang. A compound of opium and hemp-seed. 

Baoli. A well, or cistern of cut stone. 

Begum. A Mahomedan princess. 

Biggaree. Porter or guide. 

Bheestee Water-carrier. 

Blri. A kind of cigarette. 

Brahmins. Hindoos of the priestly caste. 

Bulbiil. The Indian nightingale. 

Bund. A dyke or dam. 

Bungalow. European residence. 

Bungalow {Travellers^) Establishments kept up by the gov- 
ernment for the accommodation of travellers on postal 
routes. 

Bungheeas. Sweepers, the lowest caste. 

Burra. Great; a term usually applied to the principal Eng- 
lish resident at a place. 

Cha'itya. A sacred place, containing objects dedicated to the 

divinity — Buddhist. 
Chaoree. The adit to a temple, also a fan of yak tails used in 

ceremonies. 

632 



Explanation of Terms* 633 

ChatrL Pavilion on four columns. 

Cheetah. An animal trained for deer-hunting. It has semi- 
retractile claws, and is the connecting link between dog 
and cat. 

Chiboutra. Kiosk, frequently the principal place in a square. 

Chobdar. Bearer of stick of office, ceremonial messenger. 

Choor. Robber. 

Chopaya. Carriage on four or six wheels 

Chota. Small. 

Choutri. Pavilion raised on numerous columns. 

Choiokeydar. Night-watchman. 

Crore. One hundred lakhs of rupees. A lakh is equal to ten 
thousand pounds. 

Daghoba. Buddhist altar; also a depostory for relics. 

Dak. The post; administration of relays. 

Deva. God; the term Mahadeva, or Great God, is specially 
applied to Siva. 

Dewdn. Principal minister of State. 

Dhobee. Washerman. 

Dhotee. Hindoo clothing for the lower limbs. 

Durbar. A court reception, in full dress. 

Durwaza. A door. 

Fakeer. Eeligious mendicant, usually Mohammedan. 

Gadi. Throne. Eaised seat reserved for princes. 

Gaum. A village, 

Ghari. A carriage. Ddk-ghari, post-chaise; Ag-ghari, loco- 
motive. 

GMr, Ghirz, Ghur. A mountain or fortress. 

Ghaut. A quay, a flight of steps going down to water, also a 
mountain pass. English, Gate. 

Gossains. Relig'ous beggars. 

Ghur. House or residence. 

Gurrha. Water-vessel of earthenware. 

HamdL Domestic servant, bearer. 

Howdah. A seat used for riding elephants. 

Hulkara. A messenger, generally in livery. 



634 Explanation of Terms. 

Jains. A sect of Hindoos. 

Jemadar. jSTative military officer, or chief of servants. 

JJiageer. Hereditary estate. 

Jheel. A swamp. 

Jungle. Uncultivated ground, forest. 

Khansamah. Major-domo, purveyor. 

Kslitruyas. Hiiuioos of the warrior caste. 

Kiitcherry . Office. 

Lakh. Equal to ten thousand pounds. 

Langouti. Loin-cloth. 

Lascar. Servant in charge of tents. 

Lcit. Monolithic column. 

Lingam. Mystic emblem of Siva. 

Malia, Used in composition, signifying "great.'' 

Mahal. A palace. 

Mahout. Elephant driver. 

Mahunt. Chief priest. 

Mohr. Gold coin, worth about thirty-five English shillings, but 

rarely in circulation. 
Moollah. Mohammedan priest. 
Moonshee. Interpreter, teacher of languages. 
Mukkdm. Halting-place. 
Mundil. Turban. 
Mundir. Temple. 
Musjid. Mosque. 
Musnud. Throne. 

Nautch. A dance performed by girls. 
Nautchni, Female dancer. 
Wavodh. Mohammedan chieftian. 
JSfuddee. A river. 
JSfullah. A small stream, often dry in summer, and becoming 

a torrent in the rains. 
Wuzzur. A tribute or offering. 
Palki. Palanquin. 
Peer. Mohammedan saint. 
Pehlwdn. Athlete, wrestler. 



Explanation of Terms. 635 

Peisa. Copper money ; four pice make one anna. 

Peslnvah. Head of the Mahratla dynasty. 

Pie. The smallest copper coin. 

Poor. Used in combination with other words as a terminal, 
signifying town: Oodeypoor, Jeypoor, and many hun- 
dreds of others. 

Pundit. A learned man. 

Purwdna. Firman, imperative order. 

lia'is. Prince. 

Baj. Kingdom, territory. Rajah. King or sovereign. 

Bana. The same; but this title is not equivalent to that of 
rajah in all cases. 

Banee. Queen. 

Bao. Usually a title pertaining to royalty. 

Bupee. The Government coinage, value about two shillings; 
there are however, rupees, from native mints also of va- 
rious values. 

Butt. A covered carriage, drawn by a pair of bullocks, com- 
monly used by women. 

Saliib. Sir, gentleman. 

S divas. Worsliippers of Siv^a, 

Salaam. Salutation, ceremonial bow. 

Sd7ii. Riding dromedary. 

Sdpwalla, Snake-charmer. 

Sarree. Women's garment universally worn in civilized parts 
of India. 

Shigram. An oblong close carriage to carry four persons. 

Sing, Lion — a title frequently added to the names of Raj- 
poots and Sikhs. 

Sirdar. Noble. 

Sirkar. The state. Sirkaree. Belonging to the state. 

Soubah. Governor of a province. 

Soiidras. Hindoos of the artisan class, agriculturists. 

Sowar. Horseman, usually a soldier. 

Sowarree. A procession, cliiefly mounte 

Syud. Mohammedan, descended from the prophets. 



636 Explanation of Terms. 

Tal, taloa. Lake. 

Thakoor. Eajpoot cMef. 

Thannadar. Chief of a fortified place. 

Tirthankar. Jain philosopher. 

Tdj?e. Sacred building, also a piece of ordnance. 

Viliara. Buddhist religious establishment. 

Zemindar. Hereditary occupier of the soil. 

Zenana. Apartments of ladies of rank. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Adiiiath, temple of 254 

Afganistan 218 

Afganistan evacuated . . 587 

Afganistan in 1878 and 1879 622 

Afgans, defeated 477 

Afghans invade the Pubjaub 557 

Afghans, war with 450 

Agra 460 

Ahmedabad 487 

Ahmednegar 451 

Ajmere 86 

Allahabad 32 

Ala-u-din 366 

Albuquerque 59, 394 

Alexander in India 334 

Altamsh 368 

Alum, Shah 528 

Animals, hospitals for 180 

Arab power lost 348 

Aracan 207 

Aravalis range. The 85 

Arcot and its Nawabs 142 

637 



j PAGE. 

I Arcot captured by Hyder Ali 538 

] Assam 118,208 

Assaye, battle of 565 

Attaa" and Pan 255 

Aurungzebe . 144, 477, 500 

Baber, the Tiger 382^ 43 1 

j Bangalore loi, 138 

I Banian, The 275 

i Behram Khan 440 

i Bengal 33, 118 

j Bentich, Lord William 5 78 

j Bhadrinath 84 

i Bheels, The 424 

I Birsing Deo 228 

Black Hole, The... .. 133,518 

Blackmail 93 

Bombay 36, 161 

Bombay Islands 53 

Botanic garden on the Mussoori 

mountains 66 

Bourdillas . 223 



638 



General Ifidex. 



PAGE. 

Brahmins 285 

Brahmaputra 209 

Bundelcnnd 219 

Bungalows 21 

Buniahs . . 297 

Burmah, missions in 319 

Burmese war 571 

Cabul 218 

Cabul, mission to 5S3 

Cabul stormed 584 

Calcutta 127 

Callian 195 

Cambay stones 98 

Cananore 145 

Candahar 21S 

Canouj 339 

Carnatic, The 138 

Cashew nut, The 274 

Cashmere 213 

Caste 598 

Caste system, The ^282 

Catamarans 41 

Cavery, The. 50 

Cawnpore, the mutiny at 615 

Ceylon 63 

Chenaub, The 48 

Chittagong ... 205 

Chittore 442 

Chumbul, The 48 

Climate of Dharjeling 76 

Clive, Lord i45) S16) 530 

Cochin 142 

Columbus 389 

Commercial troubles 577 

Coote, Sir Eyre 53S 

Cornwallis, Lord 140 

Cotton famine 192 

Dalhousie, Lord, his brilliant ad- 
' ministration 593 



PAGE. 

"Dandy," The 77 

Daoulatabad 483 

Deccan, The 35, 98 

Deccan, early inhabitants of 341 

Delhi, scenes at 609 

Dewani Am, the, at Agra 463 

Dharjeling 70 

Dharmasoka 336 

Dhobarri Pass, the defence of 418 

Dholepore 233 

Diamond mines 436 

Dutch in India 398 

Dutch jealous of England 522 

Duttiah 226 

Dying, The 298 

East India Company, The 115, 528, 555 

Elephanta 53 

Elphinstone, Lord 569 

English ascendency established . . . 124 

English in India 495 

English power in India 516 

Esplanade, the, at Bombay 175 

Everest, Mount 65 

Fakirs 178 

Farokhsad 362 

FerdousI 359 

Frere, Sir Bartle 202 

Ganesha 103 

Ganges, The i9) 98 

Gheias-u-din 367, 373 

Ghuzni, fall of 464 

Golconda 486 

Gunga, the goddess 63 

Guzerat 340 

G walior 237 

Hastings, Warren 534 

Havelock * 616 



General Inde:^ 



639 



PAGE. 

Heber, Bishop 4^2 

Herdeo Singh 220 

Himalayas, The 19 

Holkar 566 

Hooghly, The 60, 124 

Horse-market at Bombay 176 

Huang Tcheng 220 

Humayum 435,439 

Hyderabad _..... 486 

Hyder Ali 13S, 531, 539 

Ibrahim 362 

I ndus, The 46 

Inquisition, the, at Goa 302 

Irrigation 272 

Jaius 404 

Jampiia, The 82 

Janghis Khan 342 

Jehan, Shah 473 

Jeejeebhoy, Sir Jamsetje 191 

Jalianghir , 418 

Jeypore 420 

Jones, Sir William 321 

Jumna. The 47 

Kay tee-house iii 

Khandalla 21 

Khayats or Scribes 297 

Kherut Khoumb ■ 446 

l^hiliji, house of 370 

Kyber Pass 588, 627 

Krishna, image of 464 

Kschatrya caste 142, 223, 285, 399 

Kutb-u-din 368 

Lashkar 250 

Lingam, The 226 

Lucknow, the, mutiny at 618 

Madras 40, 134, 150, 157 

Maha Barat, The 330 



PAGE. 

Mahmoud, of Ghuzni 342, 35S 

Mahrattas, The 342, 491 

Mahrattas defeated by Aurungzebe 479 

j IMahrattas, incursions of 536 

I Makwah, the tree 279 

! Malabar hill 184 

I Malabar territory 29 

I Matheran, The 22 

Maurya dynasiy, The 336 

1 Missions 300 

I Mohammed Shah 506 

j Monsoons 262 

I Moors, the, in India 342 

I Mountains 74 

Munro, Sir Thomas .a 152 

Mysore loi, 138 

Napoleon 568 

Neilgherry mountains 36, 105 

Nena Sahib 224 

Nerbudda, The - . . 47 

Nour Mahal 45S 

Oudeypore 405 

Oudh 32 

[ Outlaws 427 

Palmer and Company, failure of .. 577 

Paniput, battle of 247 

Parsee Bazaar in Bombay 172 

Parsees 178 

Patna, fall of 527 

Peace 547 

Piass)'-, battle of 519 

Pondicherry 539 

Pondicherry capitulates 521 

Poonah 194 

Portuguese, the, in India 392 

Potato, The 274 

Presidencies, the three 118 

Provinces 116 

Pudmanee 446 



640 



General Index. 



PAGE. 

Punjaub. The 27 

Punjaub^ victories in 589 

Purvus 297 

Races of India 400 

Railways 120, 166 

Rain 265 

Rajputs, The 413 

Rajputana 210 

Rama, legend of 1S6 

Ramayana, The . . . . , 325 

Rao, Sir Dinkur 242 

Raos, the, of Meywar 256 

Rebellion, the Sepoy 601 

Rice 2 72 

Rohillas, rise of 510 

Rousselet 234 

Sacrifices, human 125 

Salsette 55 

Samanis, The 349 

Sangara 198 

Sangor, on the Hooghly 60 

Sanitarium . . ■ 69 

Sanitarium, A 107 

Schools 160, 16S 

Schwartz 310 

Scinde 28, 240, 340 

Scindia conquered 544 

Scindias The 244, 249 

Sepoys 565. 593 

Sepoys, an insurrection of 149 

Seasons 265 

Seikhs, the race of 28 

Selim, Jehanghir 454 

Seringapatam 140 

• Seringapatam besieged 554 

Sevaji Bhousa 493 

Shah Alum 528 



PAGE. 

Shah Jehan 473 

Shawls 216 

Simla 81 

Sirmour mountains, The 83 

Sik-kim hills 69 

Sonaghur 230 

Sudras 285 

Sunderbunds, The 125 

Surat 193 

Taj, The 467 

Tanjore 538 

Teraghur 86 

Thakours, The 90 

Thomas, St., of India 152, 300 

Tippoo Sahib 138, 532, 543, 553 

Toghlak dynasty 373 

Ton-jon, The 77 

Trade with Europe 386 

Travancore, the Rajah of 143 

Vaishyas 285 

Vansittart 523 

Vasco de Gama 389 

Vegetables in India 274 

Vellore 146 

Vikramaditya 89 

Vindhyas, The 19, 94, 425 

Vishnu, temple of 84 

Vizianagram i44 

Wales, Prince of 153, 234, 241 

"Walkeshwar, the god of the sands. . 187 

Xavier, St. Francis 3051 39^ 

Yakoob Khan 626 



Zayats 



97 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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